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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24329575">The Ocean Isn’t So Scary</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/WTFGayLittleZooid/pseuds/WTFGayLittleZooid'>WTFGayLittleZooid</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>HLVRAI Mermaid AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware, Half-Life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Burn, Sorry I couldn’t fit Sunkist in here y’all fkshsksb, There’s a few boomer moments, This AU has... a lot of angst moments but a lot of cute ones too, benreys an oarfish, bubby is a viperfish, coomers a mantis shrimp, darnolds a blue ring octopus, mermaid au!!, siren AU but make it DEEP water, tommys a giant squid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:01:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>66,337</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24329575</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/WTFGayLittleZooid/pseuds/WTFGayLittleZooid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gordon Freeman works in an undersea base that belongs to Black Mesa, with the job of observing what he sees and keeping the near-useless base stable. He’s used to the constant boredom of the dark ocean, but things start changing rapidly when someone/thing shows up.</p><p>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</p><p>Hey! If you want to do any fan-art and want me to see, please @ me on Tumblr or Insta:<br/>My tumblr is: @crackhead-moss-man and my Insta is @crackhead.moss.man</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Benrey &amp; Gordon Freeman, Benrey/Gordon Freeman, Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>HLVRAI Mermaid AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815016</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>881</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1852</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Hey ho, where did you go?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Wrote the first chapter! I’m not going to lie, I’m not too confident in my writing but I just want to do something for this AU that’s not doodles.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t like his job, or the deep ocean. He liked the ocean and the life within it, but being stuck in a shitty base that’s thousands of meters down in the ocean with the job of keeping the base stable and “recording” the sea life gets boring when majority of the time the windows only show pitch black and maybe the rare bristle-mouth or angler fish, which get very dull after 48 hours. In summary: his job was staying thousands of meters below in the water to keep a useless base from getting crushed by pressure and writing reports.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fun.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So when Gordon was walking around the base, not even bothering to look out at the never ending darkness that the windows showed, and heard the quiet </span>
  <em>
    <span>beep </span>
  </em>
  <span>of the sonar in the scanner-room it nearly made him leap from his skin from how much it startled him. It was dead silent in the underwater base, aside from constant and creepy creaking, and a sound from the sonar was </span>
  <em>
    <span>rare</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He never knew why Black Mesa had a sonar so deep in the ocean, but they had a lot of things Gordon never knew the purpose of and had given up questioning his first week.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked straight ahead in the hall that he was previously pacing around, waiting for another sound. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The creaking only answered back, after Gordon waited for what felt like five minutes. Just when Gordon was about to give up his patience, he heard another beep from the sonar. That was enough proof to prove that he wasn’t going insane from half a week in the ocean, and Gordon quickly rushed to the scanner room, completely tuning out the loud thumps from his feet against the metal floor of the base to listen for another beep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally something </span>
  <em>
    <span>new</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It didn’t take too long to get to the scanner room, since the base was relatively small (and even kind of cramped, Gordon was thankful he didn’t have claustrophobia). After the few seconds he got there, Gordon sprinted to the monitor that held the sonar bullshit he never bothered to understand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was nothing on it. It was the usual blank nothing that was </span>
  <em>
    <span>always </span>
  </em>
  <span>there. He didn’t know exactly what he was expecting, even just a simple dot he didn’t understand would be a little satisfying, but there wasn’t anything like that. “Are you fuckin..” Gordon grumbled to himself. He often spoke to himself down here, as there was nobody else and no cell phone signal and he wasn’t permitted to use the lines to communicate with another scientist or even a soldier unless there was an emergency. It's just sometimes nice to hear someone’s voice, even if it was his own.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was about to just turn and leave, when another beep caught his attention, along with  something appearing on the sonar. Looking at the monitor, he could see a single blue dot off to the top right of the screen. “Huh…” Gordon muttered to himself, as he looked at the screen having no clue what it meant or what it was. It’s not like they trained him for things like this happening. He just got hired after a half assed job interview and they shoved him in a shitty base in the ocean and waved goodbye.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a few seconds, the dot slowly faded, and the monitor was back to its usual blank and boring state. Gordon frowned a little, again, not really knowing what he expected. He was just getting desperate for something to happen. Gordon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers and pushing his glasses up, frustrated. It was probably a good thing that it was gone now. For all he knew, it could’ve been dangerous. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon sat in the sonar room for only God knows how long, leaning against the wall and only tearing his eyes away from the monitor if he thought he saw some movement from the corner of his eyes from the window that was on the opposite side of the wall from the monitor. Throughout the entire time he sat there, there was nothing new from the monitor or sonar. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon probably would’ve sat there until he ended up going to sleep, but the repeated obnoxious beeps coming from his watch told him he had a job and should probably be doing that. He sighed, and got up, and went to the generator and engine room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t a long walk to the engine room, it was just down the hall from the scanner room, the only problem was the hall was made mostly of glass, since it was made for observations, but he hated it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The walls and top of the hallway were all seen through, and he didn’t like the pitch black of the ocean. It was boring and sometimes it could just be creepy and unnerving. He stopped, whenever he saw movement from the right. He turned to the right almost immediately, and all he saw was very faint and almost unnoticeable bubbles. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m going fuckin’ insane,” Gordon grumbled, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon went back to doing what he was supposed to, and quickly managed to make it to the engine room. He didn’t know why he called it the engine room. It was just the room where all the technical bullshit was. Everyday he had to check the many machines that were littered around the tiny cramped room, and see if they were working properly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If they weren’t, he’d adjust them, or else he’d probably die down here. Fun thoughts. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Getting either crushed by pressure or drowning. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A wonderful way to leave the world.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next hour of Gordon’s time was, of course, spent closely observing and checking the machines. The only that needed adjusting was the generator, which honestly just needed to be replaced at this point, it was a shitty generator that would act up in the middle of the night and make awful noises that woke him up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time Gordon was finished, he felt exhausted and bored. He yawned, looking at the watch on his wrist. It read 7pm. Time was weird when the sun didn’t reach where you were. It felt like 2am. That didn’t stop him from wanting nothing more than to just pass out on the shitty bed Black Mesa slapped down here.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon stretched, and leaned backwards as he stood, hearing a satisfying pop from his back. He grinned a little at that, as it always made things feel a little better. Slouching over machines for a long and agonizing hour of work wasn’t fun, and it wasn’t kind on him either. He turned around, and slowly made his way out of the engine room and back towards the glass nightmare hall.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He let the sound of his footsteps against the metal fill his ears, as it was a nice peaceful sound compared to the eerie silence. Well it was peaceful up until Gordon stepped into the glass hall, every muscle in his body tensing, and Gordon could swear he felt his heart stop when he saw it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>person. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They were peering in from the outside of the base, looking in from the glass. Peering in through the glass of a Black Mesa base that was </span>
  <em>
    <span>thousands </span>
  </em>
  <span>of meters under the surface.They didn’t notice Gordon, and Gordon wanted to </span>
  <em>
    <span>scream </span>
  </em>
  <span>and run but he </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He could only stare in shock and fear as his body struggled with finding out what to do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He found out what to do next when the gray eyes that almost glowed that were carefully observing the base, moved to meet his own eyes. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Did you wriggle or roll?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Every one of Gordon’s muscles tensed, his heart froze, and Gordon felt stuck to the ground when the person’s eyes looked directly into Gordon’s. That was enough for Gordon’s mind to scream at him to </span>
  <em>
    <span>RUN </span>
  </em>
  <span>and he turned and ran back into the Engine Room without a second thought, hiding the electrical module he had previously fixed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon struggled to catch both his breaths and thoughts, his heartbeat and thoughts now going what felt like a million miles a minute.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>First of all, how and why the FUCK is there a person down HERE! It’s THOUSANDS of meters into the fucking ocean- how can they BREATHE- and-</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon’s thoughts kept going, as he struggled to keep from hyperventilating. He can’t deal with whatever the fuck is going on if he can’t breathe or think correctly. So, he tried to focus on his breathing, he slowly inhaled, and counted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8…</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He exhaled, closing his eyes and counting again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8…</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon repeated this for a while, focusing on his breathing and heartbeat. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there doing it for, but it started to slow work after a while. He sighed, leaning against the machine and trying to recollect his thoughts and what he saw.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a person. A person on the outside of the base, looking in through the glass. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The more he thought about it the more confused he got. Gordon rubbed his temples in frustration. He wasn’t sure what to do. He wasn’t trained to deal with this, hell- he wasn’t trained at all! Gordon groaned, putting his head in his hands. God he hoped what he saw was a hallucination. That would probably mean he’s going insane, but it was better than… whatever the fuck that was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t know what to do, but he didn’t want to stay in here the rest of the day. He also suddenly wasn’t so tired, anymore. Fuck. Gordon reluctantly stood up, heavily leaning against the wall as he did, like he was in a life or death scenario. Another deep breath, and Gordon shakily and cautiously left the engine room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he stepped into the glass hallway, there was nothing. Nothing but a… whatever the fuck was to the left of him. It was long, almost like a pillar. It looked like… an oarfish tail, but a little thicker and larger.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then Gordon realized. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s never seen an oarfish bend like this one was. Gordon looked at the tail, and realized that it bent around the hallway of the base, like it was wrapped around it. Gordon felt a chill go down his spine as he looked at it. It was fucking terrifying.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t waste another second thinking about the person nor the tail, he just sped walk out of the hallway into the living quarters, keeping his eyes to the ground so he couldn’t see what was happening around him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon opened his mouth and let out a scream, and an added “WHAT THE FUCK-“ from fear, when ever he heard knocking, and instinctively whipped around and saw the “person” again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They knocked on the glass a few times again, and were looking in through the window upside down now. It took a moment for Gordon to connect the long oarfish tail wrapping around the base to them. Gordon squinted a little, observing them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their skin was… off and a blue-ish Gray. Thay had red scales on their cheeks, piercing gray eyes, and… a helmet? He didn’t even question that part. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon stared in a mix of awe and horror, an actual merperson/siren, and not even that, one that was part oarfish.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And it was huge.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The actual human part of it looked relatively the same as Gordon, but the tail that wrapped around the base hall that Gordon could see, was already thick and large which meant it wasn’t close to the end of it. Part of Gordon wondered just how long this thing was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He got pulled out of his thoughts by it knocking on the glass again. Gordon yelped from surprise, and tried backing away. He had no idea what to do in this situation. He didn’t know sirens were real, and NOBODY knew how they acted or what they ate. Gordon watched as the creature swam closer to where he was, pressing against the glass and looking directly at him. Gordon could feel the thing’s eyes observing him, and Gordon wanted nothing more than to scream.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s stuck 2000+ meters under the ocean with a siren what the actual fuck is he supposed to do. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The siren tilted its head, and then looked around, it’s attention completely off Gordon for a moment. Then, it looked back at Gordon, before looking back in the direction it was originally, and swam towards there. Gordon had no idea where it was going, but he didn’t want to find out. He watched as the siren’s tail almost slithered around the base in a memorizing spiral pattern, and the tail just kept going. It was so long and large it was terrifying.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then eventually the movement stopped. It’s tail wasn’t moving any more, and Gordon could vaguely make out the end of the tail, but it was difficult to tell with the dark ocean.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon shivered, thinking about the sea monster that was surrounding his base right now, and remembered the emergency lines. Thank god- he could call Black Mesa- they could get him out of here- he could-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon thought as he ran towards where the communication lines were, but stopped. What the fuck was he going to say? ‘Oh help me! A mermaid is attacking me!’ They wouldn’t fucking believe that, and even if he described it as a sea monster, he doubted anyone would believe that either. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fuck..” Gordon muttered, leaning against the glass and putting his head in his hands. He didn’t know what to DO. He stayed in that pathetic position for only a few moments, and his head snapped up to the beep of the sonar. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Every part of him screamed no, every bit of common sense in his head screamed for him not to, but it beeped again, only seconds after the first beep. Gordon slowly stood up, curiosity overtaking common sense, and started to cautiously and slowly made his way back to the Scanner Room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He paused when he heard more beeping.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The beeping was changing in pitch as well, getting higher and lower, and the beeps kept coming in at different times. Then he realized. The sonar was beeping to the tune of… some song. It was… unnerving. He’d rather have the eerie silence of the ocean rather than whatever the fuck this was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon bit down the urge to run and continued to the Scanner room. He stopped once again by the sight he saw when he entered the room. From the large window that was across the monitor, Gordon could see the siren again. It was looking in through the window again, looking at the monitor, which was now filled with colorful dots that were right by the center. Either it hasn’t noticed Gordon, or it didn’t care about him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon watched as it opened its mouth (revealing quite a lot of terrifyingly sharp teeth), and bubbles along with strange orbs of light that varied in colors. As it did that, the beeps synced up with color orbs. It took a moment before Gordon recognized that it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>singing</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Gordon paused and watched as it continued.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t sure how long he watched the siren sing, but one thing he knew was that he felt strangely calm as he watched. After a few moments, he sat down cross legged without realizing, completely memorized by the beautiful colors and beeping of the sonar since he couldn’t hear the actual siren’s voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t realize how mesmerized and distracted he was by the siren’s choir, until it stopped. It stopped singing, and almost immediately Gordon went back to being tense and threatened. “What the fuck..” he quietly muttered to himself, before standing up, shaking a little.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The siren’s head turned and it noticed Gordon again. It had little emotion on its face, which only unnerved Gordon more. It pressed itself against the glass window, once again observing Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon backed up a little, not exactly too sure what to do. He was freaking out, and wanted nothing more than this </span>
  <em>
    <span>thing </span>
  </em>
  <span>to leave him alone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The siren looked at him and blinked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Calm down, man,” It said, it’s voice sounding a mix of tired and completely apathetic. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“WHAT THE FUCK-“ Gordon screamed, jumping back, and almost slamming his back against the wall from surprise. How the fuck could he </span>
  <em>
    <span>hear </span>
  </em>
  <span>siren, it wasn’t in the base- it was outside- </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh fuck you can actually hear me? niiice,” it said, it’s face twisting into a smug grin. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon realized its voice was coming from one of the microphones set up outside the base that were primarily used for cameras. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck.. I- jesus what do I fucking do-“ Gordon muttered to himself, shaking his head slowly in frustration and avoiding looking at the siren. If he was looking at it, he would’ve noticed the curiosity and interest in it’s eyes. He would’ve noticed how it’s cat-like slim pupils expanded and became more round as it looked at Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“M’ names Benrey,” the siren said blankly, getting the attention of Gordon almost immediately, who looked at him with an intense mixture of confusion and frustration. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...my name?!” Gordon shouted, only getting more confused when the siren- no- Benrey(?) knocked on the glass. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bro I can’t hear you,” Benrey said, looking around. “Yo, you got a spot we can chat? Ocean is boring and shit,” he complained.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon could only stare in disbelief now. He was desperately trying to wrap his around on what the fuck was going on but horribly failing. Gordon felt more frustration and rage build up when Benrey obnoxiously knocked on the window.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Helllooo? can you hear me? thought you could!” It said. Gordon could only grumble a little and run a hand through his hair, trying not to pull any out from the frustration. He motioned for Benrey to follow him, and made his way to the Vehicle Dock, trying to ignore the sound of the tail occasionally hitting the metal of the base as Benrey followed, and Gordon’s common sense screaming at him not to do this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But in Gordon’s defense: Benrey didn’t.. feel like some feral siren like he’s heard of the stereotypical mermaids. It was interesting. And this was his job. To collect information on unknown creatures and things in the deep (while keeping the base stable).</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon eventually got into the Vehicle Dock, which lacked any vehicle. There was a large opening that took of majority of the pool for a very small submarine to fit in, but the previous person before Gordon crashed it. He didn’t know what happened after. The Vehicle Dock basically looked like a large indoor pool that lead to the ocean, which Gordon never bothered to go into because that would be fucking stupid. He didn’t know how the water didn’t flood in through the massive fucking opening, but Black Mesa had their ways.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He sat at the edge of the pool, cross legged and making sure to keep everything out of the water. Soon enough he saw a figure underneath the water, and Benrey popped out from the surface, looking around.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...man this is a lot less cool than I thought it would be.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut up,” Gordon grumbled, and Benrey immediately scowled at him. It… probably isn’t the best idea to antagonize a creature you know nothing about, and Gordon immediately remembered that, backing away from the water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey was a lot more terrifying now that he was right in front of Gordon. “You never gave me your name, bro,” Benrey commented, looking away from Gordon and getting distracted by the interior design of the room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s Gordon Freeman,” Gordon said, his voice showing just how uncomfortable he was. Benrey looked back at Gordon, and Gordon felt as Benrey observed him closely again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...more like Gordon Feetman.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Did you giggle or grumble through?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gordon wasn’t sure how he felt about this. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>On one hand he’s actually able to do his job, and after 6 days he would be able end this hellish deep sea shift and give the… very little info he got on Benrey to Black Mesa. On the other hand, this giant and terrifying siren wouldn’t stop visiting him every 30 minutes and god did he make his presence </span>
  <em>
    <span>known</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After talking to Benrey for what felt like some long agonizing hours last night, he got no new information. Anytime Gordon attempted to pressure Benrey into answering a question or ask him something </span>
  <em>
    <span>useful </span>
  </em>
  <span>Benrey would respond with a vague answer that wasn’t useful in the slightest or a “...huh?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After Gordon gave up on the fish creature, he decided to go to sleep. He wasn’t sure how many hours he got in exactly, before he was awakened by Benrey singing. It wasn’t horrible to wake up to, but once the calming effect wore off he felt like absolute shit and wanted nothing more than to pass back out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was beyond frustrating.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey in general was beyond frustrating. Gordon couldn’t stand the pest of a siren, sometimes, but it was better than being completely alone and talking to himself like before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Currently Gordon was sitting in the Vehicle Dock, his back pressed against the wall and his body far away from the water, holding a notepad and drawing Benrey on it, and only looking up from the notepad to check Benrey for a reference, who was floating at the surface of the water, er.. his more human body was floating on his back while the rest of the fish body (which Gordon estimated to be around 50 feet long, just another reason to be cautious around him), was either probably wrapped around the base or just floating under the water since it couldn’t fit in the base. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon glanced up from the notepad, to get another quick look at Benrey, who was eating a jellyfish. He didn’t understand why Benrey had so many sharp teeth if all he ever ate was jellyfish. Gordon’s face twisted into an annoyed frown, as he flicked the pencil he was using to the eraser and erased a small chunk of the tail that looked weird.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Drawing a picture of Benrey was just as difficult and frustrating as trying to get clear answers from the siren. Sighing in frustration, Gordon grabbed a Sunkist can he had brought with him (after a few months of working week long shifts, he’s learned to prepare), and opened it, the </span>
  <em>
    <span>click </span>
  </em>
  <span>and </span>
  <em>
    <span>hiss </span>
  </em>
  <span>of the fizzy soda catching the attention of Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey tilted his head curiously, his pupils slitting a little as he watched Gordon take a sip from the can. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s that, Feetman?” He asked, getting an unimpressed and highly annoyed stare from Gordon once he put the soda down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s a soda,” Gordon said, not bothering to explain to the siren, who was now puzzled, and went back to drawing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...wha?” The siren asked, tilting their head to the side in pure confusion, and although Gordon couldn’t see it, their long tail swished slightly in the water.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s basically fancy water,” Gordon tried to explain, not really knowing how to explain soda. Gordon looked up from his notepad again, getting a glance of Benrey’s mostly apathetic but still managing to show confusion face. Gordon frowned, and carefully slid the soda over to the edge of the Vehicle Dock so Benrey could reach it. “Drink it, then you’ll understand.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Without saying anything, Benrey grabbed the can, and observed it. Gordon raised an eyebrow, a little curious at how this would go. What he didn’t expect, was for Benrey to open his mouth as large as he could, and bite down on the can and shred it to pieces and swallow it within a second. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“BENREY-“ Gordon screamed, partly from horror, partly from surprise, and partly from anger because that was his damn soda. Benrey looked at Gordon, completely devoid of emotion and quietly said “huh?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon opened his mouth to speak, but then decided it wasn’t worth the breath. “Fine. I’ll be right back,” he angrily grumbled, and stomped off to just grab a few other soda cans for back-up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon was… definitely confused when he came back. He was expecting Benrey to still be floating or leaning on the edge of the Vehicle Dock, but he was just… gone. That was a shame. Gordon sat over to where his note-pad was, and opened the soda, taking a small sip, and starting to chew the pencil eraser as he mentally reviewed the day to see if there was anything worth writing down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wrote down two things:</span>
</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<ul>
<li><em><span>EATS JELLYFISH</span></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span>EATS ALUMINUM(?)</span></li>
</ul><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A very… very long period of time passed before the long and dreadful figure of Benrey came back, and Gordon didn’t even look up from the crappy doodles of fish he started drawing all over the notepad out of boredom when he heard the siren resurface. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“About damn time,” Gordon commented.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Damn Feetman, I didn’t know I was on a schedule, bro.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t answer, he just flipped back to the drawing he never got to finish of Benrey, and started working on it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Also hope you don’t mind Feetman, but I brought a close friend of mine,” Benrey said, and that caught Gordon’s attention.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wh-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello!” Another person popped up from the water. They looked younger than Benrey, but older than Gordon, and had small orange scales littered across their face similar to a human with freckles. They also have slight buck teeth. Weird. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t say anything, he just… stared in disbelief. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey nudged the other… siren(?) with his arm, and they made a little “oh!” Sound and looked towards Gordon. “Hi, Mr. Freeman! I’m Tommy!” They said in a tone similar to one Gordon was used to hearing from Joshua. It was… nice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh… hi.. Tommy?” Gordon mumbled, still in complete shock and disbelief. The siren known as Tommy smiled brightly, and gently hit the top of the water a few times in what could be excitement. After that motion, Tommy curiously looked around, admiring the inside of the base, before grabbing the ledge and pushing himself up partly onto it, and letting the rest of his body stay in the water.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon observed tentacles, and guessed that Tommy was a squid or octopus of some sorts. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t.. know there were others,” Gordon mumbled, turning another page in the notepad to start a sketch on Tommy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep!” Tommy hummed cheerfully. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon turned to Benrey, who was still floating around in the water. “so where is it?” Benrey asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where is </span>
  <em>
    <span>what</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” Gordon said through gritted teeth, already getting annoyed at Benrey.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The soda, bro.” Benrey said, and immediately when he said that Tommy looked </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>excited. Gordon sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Listen- YOU didnt even drink it right!” Gordon shouted at Benrey, who didn’t even react. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...oh you were supposed to drink it?” Benrey asked, a slight smug smile pulling at his lips. Gordon opened his mouth to speak, before groaning and burying his face into his palm from frustration. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” Gordon gave up, and Tommy clapped excitedly. Gordon couldn’t get mad at Tommy. Benrey on the other hand was </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>easy to get mad at. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He grabbed the other two back-ups of Sunkist, and carefully handed it to Tommy, who immediately thanked him and drank it like a normal human being- or siren- and Gordon slid the other one over to Benrey, who just bit into the can and sucked out the soda.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s an improvement. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I!! I can see faster!” Tommy shouted, and Gordon, burst out laughing, basically wheezing at the absurdity of the comment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What does that MEAN?” He asked through laughter, and Tommy of course just responded with, “seeing!! You- you- you see faster, Mr. Freeman!” Which DIDNT help and Gordon could only bend over and laugh, as Tommy looked at him confused and Benrey opened his mouth again and started to eat the can. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon went to sleep after a long while of basically interrogating Tommy, and talking with the two sirens. He gave up on Benrey pretty quick, not wanting to antagonize the less terrifying but could still most likely kill him siren, but Tommy loved talking and spilling information.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon learned that there were quite a few others, and after some questions he learned that there was a viperfish, mantis shrimp, another squid, and an octopus with blue rings. Gordon made a mental note to avoid the blue ringed octopus.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>However, Gordon’s sleep was interrupted, but not by the common sound of singing, but by the sound of metal creaking </span>
  <em>
    <span>loudly</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Like something was about to collapse. Gordon, still half-asleep, yawned and put his glasses back on. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He started making his way to the Engine Room, thinking the pressure module was failing, when he heard the creak again and a loud </span>
  <em>
    <span>thunk. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon flinched at the surprising sound, and realized the sound was coming from the Vehicle Dock.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That… probably wasn’t good.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A little less asleep now, Gordon cautiously and slowly made his way to the Dock, keeping close to the wall because it made him feel a bit more comfortable. He looked out the windows in the hall, and was only met with pure darkness. No tails or sirens.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just the darkness of the ocean.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He heard the same creaking from the Vehicle Dock, and stopped staring and sped up a bit. He didn’t know what he expected to find in the Vehicle Dock….</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...but he didn’t expect to find Benrey, laying on the floor of the Vehicle Bay, the long tail taking up majority of the space in the small room, with the tip having to still dip in the water a little, baring multiple wounds and heavily bleeding from a few, where blood dripped from and pooled under the siren. </span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Here’s Tommy! And a bit of a surprise as the end ;).<br/>Also I’m begging y’all to check out this AWESOME piece of fan-art: https://squiddlysq.tumblr.com/post/618929488571531264/uh-oh-somefins-weird-with-that-oarfish-currently<br/>If you want me to see fan-art: my tumblr is crackhead-moss-man</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Tom Thumb, from where did you come?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gordon felt like time stopped as he took in the sight in front of him. He felt like his body was paralyzed and he could do nothing stare at Benrey, and he didn’t know </span>
  <em>
    <span>why.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was difficult to tell what was what, since Benrey’s tail made a very confusing path to follow that was stretched around the room. Benrey’s head and body was across the room from Gordon, and from the way he was laid out made the path to it almost impossible to get to. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon watched as Benrey shifted a little, closing his eyes moaning in pain through clenched teeth, closing his hands into fists as he felt the cuts and wounds stretch. As he moved, the base creaked very loudly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So that’s where the sound was coming from. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon looked down at the floor of the room, eyes analyzing any free parts of the metal ground he could step on. He would not step on Benrey’s tail, that… wouldn’t end well for both of them. Gordon took a deep breath, and very carefully started to step onto a free spot, doing his best to avoid the tail, staying on his toes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He found another free step, and put his foot down very carefully and very slowly made his way to the hurt siren, trying desperately not to lose balance. As he made his way to Benrey’s body, he would analyze the parts of the tail around him, looking for any wounds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There were quite a few, mostly small cuts but as Gordon got closer, the wounds got worse. The simple cuts turned to deep tears, blood leaking from the wound and on to the scales around it, and Gordon started to notice what looked like bite marks and chunks scales torn or missing. It made the man nauseous just by looking at it. He couldn’t imagine the pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a long while of traveling through the labyrinth of Benrey’s tail, Gordon managed to get to a big enough spot that was by Benrey’s body. “What happened?” Gordon asked, not even trying to hide the worry from his voice as he got on his knees so he could get closer to Benrey’s level. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey slowly opened his eyes, which stared right at Gordon. They weren’t the same eyes that looked at prey with slim pupils, they were eyes that looked at something much more valuable with much more large and round pupils.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...wha?” Benrey quietly muttered, shifting his head so he could look at Gordon’s worried and panicky eyes (he really needed to calm down). Benrey pushed down and ignored the spike of pain the simple movement added. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck happened!” Gordon shouted, more frantically this time. “Wh- Why did you come here!” The man continued, running his hand through his hair nervously. He shouldn’t be this close to a probably extremely dangerous serpent, but he wasn’t thinking clearly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Calm down,” was the only thing Benrey spat out, not tearing his piercing eyes from Gordon’s now frustrated ones. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“CALM DOWN?! YOU’RE- YOU’RE BLEEDING OUT ON MY BASE AND TELLING ME TO CALM D-“ Gordon began to shout, but got caught off by Benrey, who opened his mouth and began to sing weakly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was an enchanting yet mesmerizing song, the colorful light orbs that came from his mouth like smoke were now white. Benrey watched as Gordon’s muscles that were tense, began to relax, his jaw unclenches, his shaking stopped, and even his eyes looked less stressed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-“ Gordon started, but let the tranquility from the siren’s voice overtake him. He sighed. “Fine. I’ll- I’ll go get a medical kit,” Gordon quietly said, then carefully got up. He prepared to venture through the oarfish labyrinth again, but he heard the very loud metal creaking again as Benrey slowly moved his tail, making a path for him and piling up the tail on top of itself to get it away from the water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks?” Gordon quietly said, not looking at Benrey as he took the path Benrey made for him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once he was out of the Vehicle Dock, he ran as fast as he could to the emergency supplies. He dug through the supplies once, but not for long. He remembered seeing a med-kit in there along with a shit ton of other things. It took no time for Gordon to get to the supplies, and he ignored the loud metal creaking as he opened one of the boxes and started to dig through it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There he found a lot of food rations, a shit ton of water bottles, a tool kit, and the medkit! Smiling, Gordon grabbed the prize, and caught himself mesmerized by the item underneath it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A crossbow. Setting down the medkit, Gordon cautiously grabbed it, running his thumb along it to feel the texture. He didn’t know why he would need a crossbow. Underneath the crossbow, he found a bunch of bolts tied together by a strand of rope, with a tag coming off it. He set down the crossbow on the floor, and picked up the bolts, and observed the tag. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>[TRANQ DARTS]</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It read.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon flinched when he heard the base creak, and remembered his objective. “Shit- shit-“ Gordon mumbled, quickly stuffing the bolts and crossbow back into the box, slamming it shut, and grabbing the med-kit and running back to Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully, Benrey still kept the path open for Gordon, but decided to use the corner of the room for balance, and was now sitting up and heavily leaning into the corner of the room. Gordon ran towards him, and sat down in front of him, quickly opening the med-kit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Welcome back,” Benrey quietly mumbled, holding his hands over a deep gash in his side.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck happened?” Gordon asked, not looking away from the medical kit as he started digging through to find gauze. “And don’t give me the usual vague bullshit, this is important,” Gordon said, grabbing the gauze and glaring at Benrey so he knew.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...squid,” Benrey quietly said, his voice with no emotion in the slightest. “A big squid.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon froze a little when he heard that, remembering Tommy having tentacles. Tommy didn’t seem like he would attack Benrey, but… it still made him extremely unnerved. “...Tommy?” Gordon quietly asked, as he gently grabbed Benrey’s hands and moved them from his side.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No. Not Tommy,” Benrey answered, and Gordon breathed a sigh of relief, as he set down the gauze and remembered that he should probably put pressure on the bleeding gash before bandaging it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stay still,” Gordon instructed, and was a little surprised when Benrey listened. “Why did you come here?” He asked, feeling Benrey squirm a little and the base freak slightly when he started to apply the pressure. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nngh- It’s safer-“ Benrey hissed out, clenching his teeth in pain.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Safer?” Gordon asked, keeping his hands on the gash. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s- erg- out of water, idiot-“ Benrey mumbled, glaring at Gordon, who looked slightly irritated. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut up,” Gordon said sternly, taking his hands off the gash and grabbing the gauze again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I thought you wanted me to talk, bro,” Benrey teased, watching as Gordon wrapped the gauze around his body to cover the gash. Gordon sighed, annoyance starting to fight with his worry and empathy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How long can you stay out of the water?” Gordon asked, and Benrey paused, not answering for a while. Gordon wanted to yell at him to answer, but there were many other wounds that he needed to help.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon impatiently waited for Benrey’s answer as he cut the gauze and moved to the next cut, that was on his tail, and he started to apply pressure again. Benrey hissed a little and shifted, upsetting the base once again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… I dunno,” Benrey answered, trying to fight off the urge to pick at the bandages on his side. Gordon pressed on the wound a little harder, and looked directly into Benrey’s eyes, ignoring the pupils expanding as he did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No vague shit,” Gordon demanded, keeping the pressure steady.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“hhn- I’m being honest.. Feetman,” he said. The two stared into each other's eyes for a few long lasting moments, until Gordon released the pressure from the cut and started to dig around in the Med-kit for a waterproof and large band-aid. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine. Will you be able to… roll yourself back in the water when you need to?” Gordon asked, finally finding the band-aid and gently putting it over the cut.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep,” the siren answered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Gordon replied back, now putting much more focus on fixing the wounds rather than holding a conversation with Benrey. Neither of the two tried to talk again, and Benrey just patiently watched Gordon in silence, only making a noise whenever Gordon applied pressure or he tried moving and the burning pain intensified. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Neither of them were sure just how long Gordon was mending the wounds, but by the time Gordon was finished, he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>exhausted </span>
  </em>
  <span>and basically running purely on autopilot. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Finally,” Gordon said, yawning shortly afterwards and pushing up his glasses so he could rub his eyes. His whole body was starting to feel sore and getting heavy, along with his eyes. He couldn’t stay awake for much longer. He yawned again, and Benrey only watched observantly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He saw as Gordon stood up, swaying a little, like he was about to pass out and just someone blowing could knock him over. Gordon mumbled something that Benrey couldn’t hear or understand, and started to slowly and sleepily walk back to Benrey, who just stayed commented with, “damn, can’t believe your already tired, Feetman.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Unsurprisingly Gordon didn’t react, and crouched back down to pick up the medical kit, before pausing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...you okay, bro?” Benrey asked, starting to get a little confused. Then without warning, Gordon just… passed out. He fell to his knees first, than hit the ground, right next to Benrey, who didn’t know how to react. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He flinched a little from surprise, hissing in pain immediately after. What the fuck was he supposed to do, now. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Did you toddle or run?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gordon was woken up by the familiar rapid beeping of his watch reminding him to check the machines. Gordon slowly opened his eyes, and groaned a little. He didn’t want to get up. What the fuck happened last night?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He shifted his position, tuning out the frantic and annoying beeping of the watch, and pushed himself to where he was sitting upright and not just lied across the floor. His neck stung with pain as he moved it, and he hissed and rubbed it as he looked around.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Why the fuck did he fall asleep in the Vehicle Dock?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He slowly stood up, using the wall closest to him for support as his mind began to clear, and turned off the annoying watch. He scanned the room silently, and once he saw the blood stains on the ground, he remembered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ah.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey got himself in some deep shit with a… squid he thinks? And came here to escape. And speaking of Benrey… where the hell was the siren?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon adjusted his glasses as he squinted into the water to see if there was a figure or something under. He got answered with silence as he stared into the dark water, and he sighed. He could only hope that his attempts at helping the creature would keep it safe enough to do whatever it was currently doing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well he didn’t have time to think about the whereabouts of Benrey. He had to write down the information he had learned, and adjust the machines. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He only had 5 days until his shift was over and hopefully, if he gets enough information on the sirens, he could give it to Black Mesa and maybe even get a promotion so he wouldn’t have to come back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon smiled at that thought, and made his way to the engine room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After tampering with the machines and writing reports, Gordon was sitting in the Vehicle Dock, his back against the wall, eating a ham sandwich he made using some food he packed. He liked this room. The pool in the center of the room no longer felt like a passage into hell that he could accidentally slip into and be either crushed by pressure (he wasn’t really sure how the pressure thing worked) or eaten by sea creatures, but it now felt like an oasis and gave up a similar feeling looking into a koi pond would.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He found himself staring into that “koi pond” quite often, as he took small bites from his sandwich. He didn’t know why it was so difficult to rip his eyes away from the dark water, but it was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon stayed looking into the Black Mesa base’s personal “koi pond” even after finishing his sandwich. He looked longingly into it, resting his head on his hand and playing with his hair that was tied into a rat’s tail with his other hand. He wondered where Benrey was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The siren would drop by very often, waking Gordon up often when he did. And this was the longest he has been gone, which wasn’t the best sign considering Benrey was heavily injured the last time he saw him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A pit formed in Gordon’s stomach as he stayed in the Vehicle Dock, not looking away from the pond. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon was probably sitting there for hours, spacing out and staring into the pool of the room, when he saw a ripple in the water. Perking up a bit, he looked towards the ripple of the water, desperate at this point to talk to someone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And out from the water emerged the figure of Tommy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t Benrey, but it was someone, and Tommy looked like he was in a good mood, which probably meant Benrey was fine, considering they were friends.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Mr. Freeman!” Tommy said happily, the bright smile on his face easing Gordon’s anxiety a little. The man returned the smile, his much softer though. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Howdy,” he said back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you have any more soda?” The squid asked, tilting his head a little. Gordon responded with a nod, and started to get up to go get some, when Tommy said something else. “Oh! We need 4!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We?” Gordon asked, his soft smile turning into one of slight suspicion. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! I- I brought some of my friends! I hope it’s alright..” Tommy mumbled, his voice getting a little less excited and more quiet as he spoke. He looked at Gordon, his large yellow eyes basically begging him like a puppy’s would.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>How the fuck could he say no to that! It wasn’t fair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon raised an eyebrow, and turned to go get the four (well actually five, soda did sound good right now). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the time Gordon came back into the Vehicle Dock, he paused in the doorway, not knowing how to react. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There were four sirens currently in the vehicle bay.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was Tommy, who was sitting on the ledge of the pond on top of the emergency ladder that was used to climb in and out, his (very long) tentacles wrapping around the ladder like how a Kraken wraps around a ship before taking it down. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There were two, much, much older sirens.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One wasn’t even a fish, they were the colorful mantis shrimp that Tommy had mentioned earlier, and looked more similar to a centaur with two pairs of arms(?). One was the human kind and one was the… extremely deadly arms that belonged to the shrimp part. He was sitting completely on the ground, not touching the water. His pinchers were folded neatly on the ground and his human arms moving as he talked to the other old scientist who was next to him, a happy and soft smile on his face below a thick mustache.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was the viperfish siren Tommy mentioned. They looked around the same age as the mantis shrimp, and wore glasses (?), which Gordon did not have the mental energy to question. Whenever they opened their mouth, Gordon shivered at the many sharp and jagged teeth. They were sitting on the ledge, similar to how Tommy was sitting, leaning back a little more, and swishing his tail in the water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The last one was the blue ringed octopus. Out of the four sirens, the viper fish was the least deadly. Still terrifying and dangerous though. The octopus was still in the pool, most of their body out of the water as they spoke to Tommy, leaning back on the edge of the pool, kind of similar to how a person would sit in a Hot Tub with their arms on the edge of it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...I got the sodas,” Gordon anxiously and awkwardly said, ignoring the nervous bead of sweat that rolled down his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>When the fuck did this base turn into a pop in aquarium.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everyone of the sirens’ heads turned towards him, and the only reason Gordon didn’t flinch from both fear and stress was because his feet were basically rooted to the floor of the base. He stood there and everyone was silent for a moment, until the mantis shrimp spoke up.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Yay!” Tommy said, flapping his hands as he shouted. That was enough to relax Gordon just enough to where he could cautiously pass the sodas around to everyone. He started with Tommy, who was very excited to take it and very quick to thank Gordon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He put the sodas down for everyone else a little bit away from them, still not comfortable enough to get close to any of them, then proceeded to go sit in his spot, cracking open his soda and taking a sip.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh! Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier, but I go by Coomer!” One of the sirens declared, catching Gordon’s attention rather harshly and scaring him. He put his drink down, and looked towards the direction of the viperfish and mantis shrimp. It was the mantis shrimp who said it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...my name is Gordon Freeman,” Gordon hesitantly said, eyeing Coomer, who wore a friendly smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Gordon!” Coomer responded happily, waving to Gordon. Gordon nodded and looked at Bubby, who wore an expression that was more similar to the ones Benrey often wore. “What’s your name?” Gordon asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t remember,” the viperfish said, a slight grin tugging at their lips as they failed to keep a poker face. Gordon frowned, not in the mood to deal with anything like this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stop fucking with me, what’s your name?” Gordon demanded, not even trying to hide the irritation in his tone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” The viperfish started, giving up pretty fast. “Mmmm… Bubby.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bubby?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bubby.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...alright,” Gordon said, eyeing the siren who immediately went back to talking with Coomer. He didn’t trust that one. Well he didn’t trust any of them, except for Tommy, but so far he was the one he trusted the least. He turned to the octopus, who was struggling to open his soda can. “What’s your name?” Gordon asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Darnold,” they answered with, not even looking up as they struggled to get their finger under the soda tab, their mouth twisted into one of frustration and struggle, the tip of a blue tongue sticking out from their mouth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh! Let me help!” Tommy volunteered, and Darnold handed him the soda without hesitation. Gordon watched as Tommy effortlessly opened the soda, smiling at the pop of the tab and the fizzing sound of drink. He handed it back to Darnold.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Darnold smiled back at Tommy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon pulled out a notepad from his hoodie pocket, which he put on shortly after waking up since he didn’t have the energy to change. Once he took it out, he was greeted with the page on Benrey, and the pit of worry in his stomach that he almost forgot about only grew heavier as he looked at it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Where was he?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon flipped to an empty page of the notepad, and looked up. Everyone seemed happy. Tommy and Darnold were chatting about some object Tommy had found a while back, while Coomer seemed to be showing Bubby a proper form to a punch. He couldn’t help but smile at this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was… nice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Despite just meeting 3 of them, they acted so… human. They were just hanging out in a safe spot and having a fun time, similar to how some people would get together at a person's house, crack open a beer, lay back and talk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon never got to experience something similar to that, since he never really spoke to others and struggled to bond with people. There was only one exception to this, which was his ex wife. He didn’t want to think about her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He pushed his glasses up, and rubbed his eyes. He didn’t know why he did it, but it was just something he’d do if he felt a little upset. He adjusted his glasses again, and looked around at everyone around him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...has anyone seen Benrey?” Gordon asked, trying to keep his voice apathetic, but it was useless since the worry shined through as clear as day (on the surface, that is). Everyone went silent, and they all shared looks amongst each other. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The oarfish?” Bubby spoke up, looking at Coomer who confirmed with a nod.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry Gordon, but I haven’t seen him,” Darnold awkwardly said, taking a sip from the soda in an attempt to hide the concerned and awkward expression on his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The last I saw Benrey, he was badly hurt!” Coomer said, which Gordon already knew. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh no! Do you think he’ll be okay?” Tommy asked worriedly, looking at Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure the bastard will be fine! He’s almost as strong as me! And I’m stronger than anyone here!” Bubby confidently said, earning a snicker from Darnold.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The sirens all started passing each other questions and comments about Benrey, and Gordon sighed in frustration, burying his face. Coomer was the one who had most recently seen him, and it was after the squid attack. Gordon didn’t have any time to comment or say anything else before the topic quickly turned to the soda and things about it, and what other things Gordon had. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Today was going to be… very long. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It seemed like forever until they all left, Tommy being the last one to go. Gordon liked Tommy, as he was the most friendly, nice, and trustworthy of them all, but he felt drained from all the social interaction completely. He had to bite back a cheer when the squid finally left.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This time, Gordon managed to drag his exhausted self to bed first, basically throwing his body onto the bed like it was rag doll whenever he saw it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He snuggled into the bed like he hadn’t seen it in years, and closed his eyes, trying to forget everything about the sirens and focus on sleeping.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon woke up to nothing. No frantic rapid beeping from his watch, no creaking from the base, just the eerie silence of the ocean. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hated it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He got up, not feeling exhausted or tired at all for once. He felt nothing. So he headed towards the Vehicle Dock. He didn’t know what he expected when he got to the silent and empty room. The pool in the middle was pitch black, almost like ink, and Gordon stared into it, and walked to the edge of it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stared at it, and stared at it, and couldn’t tear his gaze away from it. He blinked slowly, observing every movement of the void water.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t hesitate when he took the last step forward and walked into the pool.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He heard a splash, and then every sound was muffled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He slowly sunk into the water, going down, and down, and down, until he stopped. It was pitch black, and he could only see the bubbles in front of his face. He looked up, or what felt like up, and the base wasn’t there. He couldn’t tell which direction was what.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He turned, and looked. He strangely still felt nothing and numb.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t breathe but that was fine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No panic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No fear.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just calming silence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That is… until the silence was broken by an echoing voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dr. Freeman…” the voice boomed, seeming to come from everywhere at once. </span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Did you skip, trip, or stumble through?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gordon listened to the booming voice without a second thought. Everything still felt almost completely numb and dull. He probably would’ve thought it was scary or weird if he could feel it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dr. Freeman, in the flesh…” the voice said, still coming from every direction. Gordon raised his head lazily, in an attempt to look for who was talking, but all he could see was the pitch black of the ocean surrounding him and it didn’t help that his glasses were barely staying on his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I will admit, that it’s a </span>
  <em>
    <span>pity </span>
  </em>
  <span>to talk to you like this…” it started, and Gordon ignored the feeling of something wrapping around his leg. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But I believe that it is important to make haste, without that oarfish around,” it continued, and Gordon squinted as he could see a very faint figure in the dark water in front of him. He ignored the feeling of something wrapping around his other leg, and tightening. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It didn’t hurt. It was fine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon could only stare blankly as the figure came closer. It was another siren, one that was similar to the size of Benrey. They were slim, and their eyes seemed to shine through the pitch black of the ocean. Gordon watched as they swam closer, immediately recognizing their bottom part as a squid.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not just a squid though.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A colossal squid.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t see where the tentacles ended, they seemed to just fade into the darkness. He wondered if this thing was as long as Benrey, or longer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I do hope you listen to me, Dr. Freeman,” it said, swimming only a foot away from Gordon and looking down on him, it’s piercing glowing eyes staring into him. Gordon slowly blinked in response, starting to feel tired. He felt something wrapping around his waist and arm. He glanced down, and recognized them as tentacles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stared blankly at them, not finding the energy to react, or feel anything. So he let them be, and looked back at the colossal squid. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It would be… quite an inconvenience to take your life. Someone I deeply care about, appears to deeply care about you,” they explained, Gordon ignored the tentacle wrapping around his free hand and tightening along with the one on his waist, taking away all his ability to move. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He ignored the burning feeling in his chest and throat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I do hope you’ll prove yourself better than your co-worker,” the colossal squid said, wrapping a tentacles around Gordon’s neck in the process, and pulling him closer to his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Otherwise you’ll find out the… unfortunate fate that your co-worker and that submarine found themselves in.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The siren examined Gordon’s blank face, which lacked any emotion. Good. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now if you excuse me, Dr. Freeman. I best be going now. I’ll be cheering for you. I do hope you prove yourself different from the others.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon felt the tentacles unwrap from around his body, but the weight and burning in his chest and throat stayed as the creature left. He tried to swim up, but he didn’t know what </span>
  <em>
    <span>up </span>
  </em>
  <span>was. It was all just… pitch black in every direction. He wasn’t sure how to get back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His eyes felt heavy, and the </span>
  <em>
    <span>exhaustion </span>
  </em>
  <span> seemed to crash down on him. The now cool water was… strangely relaxing and everytime Gordon blinked, his eyes stayed closed for just a little bit longer than before as he tried to fight against sleep. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He lost that battle, and not even the burning pain in his chest and throat was enough to send him into a panic or keep trying.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The best thing Gordon knew, was the freezing cold metal underneath him and the stinging pain on his side as he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>thrown </span>
  </em>
  <span>into the Vehicle Dock. He started coughing and hacking like a cat with a hairball, until some water came from his throat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After that, he was left weakly laying on his side, feeling pain </span>
  <em>
    <span>everywhere </span>
  </em>
  <span>on his body, but mostly his chest. It was difficult to breathe, and the freezing cold water sticking to his body and clothes making his clothing ridiculously heavy, didn’t help. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everything felt like a blur, almost like it was from a dream. Gordon weakley groaned in pain, not even attempting to move since every muscle in his body screamed in pain and soreness. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he </span>
  <em>
    <span>could </span>
  </em>
  <span>move.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His breaths were coming out ragged, and though Gordon was just laying on his side everything felt like it was still spinning. He shivered a little. </span>
  <em>
    <span>It was so cold, everything was so heavy, everything hurt, he could barely even breathe. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon could barely keep his focus on anything but breathing and the splitting headache he had. He could vaguely see a figure from the pool, but the dizziness and fogginess of his mind made it extremely difficult to tell who it was. Gordon wanted to push himself closer to the wall and away from the pool, but he felt that if he even moved a finger he would tear a muscle. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So when the figure moved closer, Gordon could only watch. He wanted to scream at it to back off, to leave him alone, or to </span>
  <em>
    <span>scream </span>
  </em>
  <span>in general but he couldn’t. He could barely even breathe; he couldn’t shout even if he tried. He heard the metal of the base creak as the figure pushed itself partly on the floor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Damn Feetman, that was very stupid of you, idiot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A wave of safety and security came over Gordon when he heard that creak and the apathetic voice. Gordon’s lips pulled into a weak smile, as his dull and foggy eyes that were usually filled with emotion looked at Benrey. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Benrey stared back, the usual blank stare and observant piercing eyes from them. Gordon could still see the gauze wrapped around their waist. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yo, come on, why did you just go in the water like that? You’re human, bro,” Benrey said, their blank face going into more of a frown. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon wondered if Benrey saw the colossal squid, but didn’t respond. How </span>
  <em>
    <span>could </span>
  </em>
  <span>he respond? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Come on, Feetman. I’ll answer a stupid question of yours if you answer mine,” Benrey tried saying, their pupils expanding a little, worry leaking into their tone. Gordon couldn’t do anything other than stare at Benrey. He wanted to sit up, to talk to Benrey, to do </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>other than just lay here and stare but even just inhaling and exhaling raggedly put an insane amount of pressure on his chest somehow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...fine. Stay here. Don’t go for a lil’ dip again. I’ll be right back,” Benrey said, then quickly went back into the water and disappeared before Gordon could process it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon frowned a little, and closed his eyes. He wasn’t trying to sleep. He was attempting to put more focus into remembering whatever the fuck happened in the water before Benrey found him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon wasn’t sure how much time passed until two figures emerged from the water. He still didn’t know how to describe the experience, and he was still very confused on what happened in general, but Gordon relaxed a little when he saw Benrey emerge.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I found the idiot in the water going for a lil’ swim,” Benrey explained to… someone. Benrey stayed in the water poking his head above the ledge to keep an eye on Gordon who hadn’t moved an inch. Gordon looked back at Benrey, confusion on his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon watched as two other figures emerged from the water: Darnold and Tommy. He felt very uncomfortable seeing their tentacles now, shivering a little from both fear and the freezing cold water.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He doesn’t look too good,” Darnold commented, which made Gordon a little bitter. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Of course I don’t look too good, I can’t fucking move and I feel like absolute shit. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He couldn’t help but think. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Freeman!” He heard Tommy call out desperately, immediately swimming over to Gordon, who desperately wanted to move back away from the edge of the pool. “Are you going to be okay?” Tommy asked, like if Gordon knew.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Idiot won’t even fuckin speak,” Benrey said, his long tail, swishing in the water slowly with irritation. Gordon could still see some bandages on it through the water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your dad knows some things about humans , right?” Darnold asked, looking at Tommy, who looked panicked. “Yeah, but he's not an expert!” Tommy cried in response, giving a desperate look towards Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t you find him in the water?” Darnold asked, looking towards Benrey, who nodded. Darnold looked towards Tommy again. “Did he mention anything about why humans aren’t in the water?” He asked, and Tommy opened his mouth, then closed it. Gordon watched as the squid struggled to think of what to say as he fidgeted with his fingers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Something about breathing.. I think. And pre-pressure! He mentioned something about the water being- the water isn’t as heavy as it is at the surface,” Tommy tried his best to explain. Gordon watched as Tommy and Darnold talked, struggling to think of how to help Gordon and what exactly happened to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually Gordon’s eyes drifted to Benrey’s, who was staring at him again. Benrey’s actually looked worried for once, which was… weird. Gordon didn’t know how he felt about it. But before Gordon could think about that, he felt the base creak again, as Benrey slowly and struggled to pull his body onto the ledge. Gordon watched, not able to really do anything about it without triggering extreme pain, as Benrey sat down next to him, curling his long tail around Gordon almost like a protective circle that ended up going back into the water. Gordon wanted to look up and see Benrey’s face, just to see what his emotion was, but didn’t even try. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All he could do was watch as Benrey protected him… something and listen to Tommy and Darnold try and figure out a way to help.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>why did i think i could write g-man. he is so difficult to write lol<br/>Also I'm still trying to figure out how to write Darnold, but I need to see more Darnold in fics</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Go down, let’s go down.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It took… quite a few hours before Gordon could sit up straight and use a wall to lean on without extreme pain. Of course it still hurt, and Benrey and Tommy had to help, but it was better than it was before. Gordon hissed a little from the stinging pain coming from just about every muscle in his body, as Benrey and Tommy let go. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Gordon wheezed out, his voice quiet and in pain, since his whole body despised movement, and this was the first thing he said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow, feetman finally decided to speak,” Benrey said, a slightly smug grin on his face. Gordon rolled his eyes, honestly he was just happy to not be laying in a bloodstained floor. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mr Freeman!! I’m so glad you’re okay, now!” Tommy shouted, a relieved smile on his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s a relief-“ Darnold said, using one of the emergency ladders to try and climb up onto the floor, only to get a menacing glare from Benrey, who was looking at the blue rings then at Darnold’s eyes, and Darnold dropped back into the water.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m still not.. fully fine, guys,” Gordon tried to explain, his chest still stinging a little in protest, but at this point Gordon didn’t care. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh..” Tommy whined, his head lowering a little. Gordon noticed how Tommy’s tentacles stopped moving as much as they were before when he said that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you s-“ Darnold got cut off by the rapid beeping of Gordon’s watch. Everyone shut up and looked at it, and Gordon only sighed in annoyance. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jesus fuckin..” Gordon grumbled, and put his hands on the ground, and tried pushing himself up, mostly relying on the wall to do so. Every muscle strained and screamed in protest, and Gordon could </span>
  <em>
    <span>swear </span>
  </em>
  <span>he felt the crushing weight of the water again as he tried to stand. He groaned in pain, but still tried. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing Mr. Freeman!” Tommy cried out, upset and concerned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bro, stop. That’s very not smart of you, feetman,” Benrey added, moving his tail closer to Gordon in case he fell.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gordon, what the hell!” Darnold shouted, his voice filled with worry and confusion as he gripped the edge of the ledge, watching Gordon struggle to stand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon quickly moved his hands from the floor to the wall, biting his tongue to try and not scream. Every part of his body burned until he managed to lean against the wall, legs shaking and taking slow and heavy breaths. He did it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He shakily and slowly switched his watch off to silence the annoying beeping, cringing from the pain as he struggled to catch his breath. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fucking Christ, that was painful. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why did you do that, Mr. Freeman!” Tommy whined, and Gordon looked at the tears welling in the giant squid’s eyes, and just how tense they were. Gordon felt bad for them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, idiot. You said you’re not fine,” Benrey said, their tone apathetic. Gordon slowly turned to look at him, ignoring the slight sting of pain caused from the motion. He noticed how Benrey’s eyes looked worried, and his pupils were a bit more slim and sharp than usual. For a split second, they made eye contact, Benrey’s pupils widened, and the oarfish looked away immediately. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Darnold had about half of their body in the ledge now, and was biting their lip a little. Their eyes shook a little as they nervously looked at Gordon, but they didn’t say anything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon paused for a moment, trying to catch his breath and thinking. Why did these </span>
  <em>
    <span>sirens </span>
  </em>
  <span>care more about his safety than Black Mesa? All three of them have been desperately doing whatever they could to help Gordon, while Black Mesa just shoved him in the deep sea </span>
  <em>
    <span>knowing </span>
  </em>
  <span>the dangers of it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon took a deep breath, before he explained. “When the… watch beeps, I.. I have to check some things.. to keep the base safe for me..” he tried to explain, taking deep breaths in between pauses as he waited for the stinging pain to calm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Darnold and Tommy looked at eachother, while Benrey tapped the floor with his fingers. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Will you be alright?” Darnold asked, gripping the floor of the Vehicle Dock much harder now. Tommy didn’t say anything, but Gordon could tell he was thinking the same thing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.. I’ll be fine..” Gordon quietly answered, giving them a small smile, that was strained from the faint pain, but it seemed to satisfy them as they responded with a silent nod. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yo, Feetman,” Gordon sighed when he heard the name, but looked down at Benrey who… took his helmet off. Gordon starred, finding the sight of it so </span>
  <em>
    <span>weird. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It looked wrong to see Benrey without the helmet, and under it was just some normal and curly black hair that was a tangled and soaked mess. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Take the chicken hat, idiot. So if you fall you won’t get any stupider than you are now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks?” Gordon said, hesitantly and slowly grabbing the helmet, trying not to piss off his sensitive nerves anymore. Gordon grabbed it, and held it gently in both hands, staring at it curiously, then looked at Benrey, who was obviously uncomfortable without it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...where did you even get this?” Gordon asked as he slowly put it on. Immediately he could see why Benrey liked it so much. It felt… so safe and secure, it was nice, even if it was wet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Found it,” Benrey mumbled, his voice much quiet as he avoided eye contact and looked down, nervously fidgeting with his hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon smiled at the oarfish, then looked at the octopus and squid who seemed just as shocked as Gordon seeing Benrey without his helmet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gordon grabbed the wall again, and started to very slowly make his way towards the engine room, fighting through the stinging pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It took Gordon a lot longer than usual in the engine room. Most of the time he spent there was either laying on top of the machines, trying to catch his breath and wait for the pain to become more bearable, or try and figure out whether or not the machine needed fixing or not because it was so difficult to even comprehend it, even though he’s done it so many times before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t sure how long he took, but a quick glance at his watch informed him he took around 4 hours. Wow. He wondered what everyone was doing during that time, but he probably shouldn’t keep them waiting for him anymore. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As he started his way to the glass hallway again, he paused. He wanted to repay them for trying to help when they couldn’t do much. They seemed to really enjoy soda, but he had other things than just soda. They wouldn’t mind if he was gone for another thirty or twenty minutes, right? So, Gordon dragged himself across the glass wall of the hallway, noticing how the pain wasn’t as horrible as it was 4 hours ago. It was still bad, but it was much more tolerable. Eventually, Gordon found himself in the bedroom of the base, and struggled to remember where he had put everything. He scanned the room from where he was standing, to see if there was anything the sirens would like.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a surprisingly long while of searching, he found a shit ton of soda cans, some pre-made sandwiches, and just a few items he thought looked cool. He looked at his watch again, and apparently 15 minutes had passed. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck, I probably should hurry back. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon thought, as he finished shoving the last of the items into a small bag that he forgot to throw away. He quickly grabbed the surprisingly heavy bag, and tried walking without using the wall.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stumbled for quite a bit, and he cringed as the pain came back, but it quickly calmed and became tolerable once again. Okay, that was good. He was tired of leaning against the wall and pulling himself along it, anyway. He started walking back towards the Vehicle Dock, taking slow and shaky steps, when he heard something that grabbed all of his focus.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A phone ringing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The emergency lines were fucking ringing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon tried speeding up and getting to the lines as fast he could, almost tripping and falling at least 4 times as he did, but he managed, and grabbed the phone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...hello?” Gordon weakley asked into the phone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How’s the progress on the daily reports?” A voice he was unfamiliar with asked into the phone. </span>
  <em>
    <span>What the fuck? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Nobody has ever called to check on the reports.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...huh?” Was all Gordon could manage, he was beyond the point of just confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cut the shit, Freeman. You have 3 days left until your shift is over, and you haven’t submitted anything for this week. Black Mesa isn’t stupid, we know about everything.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What..? What do you mean?” Gordon asked, feeling more and more anxious and uncomfortable by the second.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The sirens. Do you </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>think we would keep a base thousands of meters from the surface if we didn’t know?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon froze, desperately trying to think of something to say. How the fuck did they know. Him he was not in the state to deal with this. “...how do you know?” He asked, his voice weak and breaking from the amount of fear he felt. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s not information for you to know. What’s important is that you submit what you have, Freeman,” the voice said, and before Gordon could respond, he could hear the click of the conversation ending.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stood there, holding the phone in one hand, in the bag in the other, shaking. </span>
  <em>
    <span>How the fuck did they know? What the fuck are they using him for? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon thought, slowly putting the phone back. He leaned against the wall again, trying not to scream. He looked towards the direction of the Vehicle Dock again, knowing his </span>
  <em>
    <span>friends, </span>
  </em>
  <span>not sirens, </span>
  <em>
    <span>friends </span>
  </em>
  <span>were waiting for him there.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He feared that if he submitted the information that he gathered about them, that Black Mesa might use that for their advantage. Black Mesa was powerful, and Gordon wouldn’t be surprised if they did some awful shit too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wondered what would happen if he didn’t submit the information. He didn’t want to know if he just stopped doing his job. He was far too deep in this mess to just go back and quit. He looked out the window into the pitch black of the ocean. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He remembered what the colossal squid said now. He finally fucking knew what it meant. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon paused, wanting to scream into his hands. He wanted to leave and not come back. He knew he had to submit </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>about them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He could lie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They would hopefully not have a way to prove it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon breathed a sigh of relief, and pushed himself off the wall. The motion still hurt, but honestly </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck </span>
  </em>
  <span>his stupid weak body, he just wanted to go back to everyone and forget about this. He would forget about this, talk with everyone, keep up the charade and lie to Black Mesa, and things would turn out </span>
  <em>
    <span>fine.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon started walking back to the Vehicle Dock, hearing the voices of his friends talking growing louder, as he took slow steps to ease the pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Yeah.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>This would turn out fine.</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This chapter might’ve been a little weird because idk, today just felt off.<br/>Also spoiler: things will not turn out fine</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Let’s go down, don’t you want to go down?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It didn’t take long for Gordon to get back to the Vehicle Dock, trying to push the terrifying and anxiety inducing thoughts to the back of his mind, as he carried the bag and took slow steps. And once he got to the Dock, he wasn’t surprised to see that Coomer and Bubby had joined the party. And that surprisingly calmed Gordon a little. It was refreshing to see them here, it would hopefully make it easier to forget. Gordon didn’t feel like saying anything to announce that he was back, he just silently walked to ledge of the pool, and sat cross-legged on the edge, setting the bag down to his side.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“oh yo, feetman’s back!” Benrey said, now back floating around in the pool instead of on the floor. Gordon smiled  at that, since Benrey’s tone was less apathetic and more emotional for once. A few of the other sirens commented on Gordon being back, and Gordon pretended that he didn’t hear Bubby’s “about fucking time.” Gordon took off the helmet, ignoring the slight sting of pain as his arm protested the motion, still not too happy at being thrown into deep sea water, and handed it to Benrey, who </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>quickly snatched it and put it back on his head. Gordon immediately noticed how Benrey relaxed a little once the helmet was back on. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon looked around, and took notice of everyone. Coomer was laying on the floor again, like before, his mantis shrimp pair of arms crossed while his hands moved with how he talked similar to a cartoon character. Bubby was sitting next to him, leaning back a little, as his tail dropped into the water and slowly swished in a circular motion. Tommy was sitting much closer to the wall, leaning back on it, his long tentacles still finding a way to the pool in the middle of the room and going into the water. Darnold sat next to him, the beautiful rings glowing as he sat on the space in front of the emergency ladder, tentacles holding it similar to how Tommy sat there before, his body tilted more towards Tommy. Gordon couldn’t help but smile seeing everyone so casually here, as he opened the shitty bag that </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>to make noise as everyone shut up and their focus directed to Gordon’s mystery bag. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s that?” Darnold asked, the slight glow on the rings pulsing slightly as the octopus’ curiosity grew. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I hope it’s soda! Everything feels slow without it!” Tommy said excitedly, flapping his hands up and down as he spoke. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I do hope so! The soda tasted amazing!” Coomer replied happily, nudging Bubby with his human arm. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, There’s… some soda,” Gordon replied with, taking out 6 cans of Sunkist, and beginning to pass and slide the small cans to the others, who didn’t hesitate to crack open the cans and start drinking them (unless they were Benrey who just sucked out the soda after biting the can, then ate the can whole). Gordon struggled to tune out the loud sound of Coomer and Bubby slurping, which Gordon noticed sounded like a competition between the two about who could be louder, if he was being honest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What else is in there, chicken hat?” Gordon heard Benrey say, shortly after the ear splitting sound of the oarfish obnoxiously chewing the soda can. Gordon rolled his eyes and looked at Benrey, who had swam closed and was holding the ledge where Gordon was only inches away from, his pupils still wide as he looked from the bag to Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just things... Like this,” Gordon said, a soft yet somber smile growing on his face as he pulled out a photograph and looked at it for a few moments. It was an old photograph of Joshua, who he hasn’t seen in years. He missed his kid, and he was of course at first upset whenever </span>
  <em>
    <span>she </span>
  </em>
  <span>refused to let Gordon see him- well, he was much more than just upset, he was more of an emotional wreck for a very long time- but he gave up trying a while ago. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“yo, Feetman, can’t see it down here,” Gordon snapped away from his thoughts when he heard the apathetic voice, and blinked from surprise. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“O-oh yeah- sure,” Gordon stumbled out, quickly turning around the photograph and lowering it a little so Benrey could see. Benrey attempted to grab it, which resulted in Gordon yanking it back, because he’d refuse to let this get wet. Benrey scowled a little bit, but didn’t attempt to grab it from the man’s hands when he lowered it again. Gordon observed as Benrey’s pupils went from wide to slim, then back to wide like a cat’s. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...looks a bit shit,” was all the oarfish had to say, which resulted in an annoyed groan from Gordon, as he pulled the photograph away. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What is it, Mr. Freeman?” Tommy asked, his tentacles swaying with curiosity. Darnold looked over too, putting his drink down and tilting his head a little, the blue rings glowing again. “...are your hands dry?” Gordon asked, holding the photo close to his chest protectively. Tommy responded with an enthusiastic nod, bouncing a little. Gordon sighed, and handed the photo to Tommy, who gasped loudly, getting the attention of </span>
  <em>
    <span>everybody </span>
  </em>
  <span>else. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Freeman, he’s adorable!” Tommy exclaimed, showing the photograph to Darnold, who smiled softly and looked at Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t know you had a kid! Congrats, Gordon,” Darnold said, a very soft and almost comforting tone to his voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon smiled at that, but the smile was short-lived when Bubby shouted, “well don’t hog the picture, bitches!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...are your hands dry?” Tommy asked, getting a sigh of relief from Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nope!” Bubby responded with. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mine are, Tommy!” Coomer happily exclaimed with, reaching forward and gently grabbing the photo from the giant squid. Coomer and Bubby leaned over the photo, observing it, both had smiles starting to form on their faces. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He looks beautiful, Gordon!” Coomer happily said, handing the photograph back to Gordon, who couldn't help but softly smile once again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Out of all the human children I’ve seen, that’s the best,” Bubby said, their tail swishing a little faster in the water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Have you ever seen any other human children?” Coomer asked the viperfish.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nope!” Bubby confidently said, which resulted in Gordon laughing for a few seconds, earning a confused look from the old man (siren?).</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon gently folded the photograph, but not before giving it one last look, and putting it back into the bag. Next he took out the sandwiches he had pre-made, and thank god he had made 6. He opened the ziplock bags he kept each of them in, and noticed the confused looks of everyone else.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...have any of you </span>
  <em>
    <span>seen </span>
  </em>
  <span>a sandwich before?” Gordon asked, taking out one and passing it to Benrey, who looked at it curiously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“we aren’t human, idiot,” Benrey responded, taking a bite out of the sandwich.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m aware of that!” Gordon shouted at them, and continued passing out the sandwiches to everyone else. Gordon greatly underestimated how much sirens enjoyed sandwiches. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is amazing!! Thank you so much, Mr. Freeman!” Tommy exclaimed happily, his tentacles moving around very quickly in the water from the squids excitement that stemmed from a fucking sandwich.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is so much better than the crap in the ocean,” Darnold happily said, taking another large bite from the sandwich, the blue rings almost glowing with satisfaction. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You humans must live a fucking luxury when you can make shit like this!” Bubby shouted, the tail swishing happily as he quickly tore apart the sandwich with his very sharp teeth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gordon, you are an excellent cook!” Coomer said, somehow already finished with his sandwich.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s alright,” Benrey said, taking another bite from the sandwich. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s… just sandwiches guys,” Gordon chuckled, shoving the empty zip-locks back into the bag, as he dug around for something else to show the sirens. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But they tasted amazing!” Tommy exclaimed. Darnold nodded, and everybody else seemed to agree, except for Benrey who was just silently staring at Gordon whole occasionally taking a small bite from the sandwich. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The rest of the time with everybody was shared with Gordon passing around whatever he had in the bag for the sirens to see, which was pretty entertaining and funny for Gordon. Either he got reactions that were extremely confused over the simplest things, such as all the sirens having no clue what a hair tie and bottle opener was, or hilariously over amazed and excited reactions. It felt like a show and tell for kids, but the kids were dangerous sirens he probably shouldn’t be so close to, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck it </span>
  </em>
  <span>they were his friends, and they were damn good ones, and Gordon had almost completely forgotten about the phone call from Black Mesa. </span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Just a little bit of fluff</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. And wriggle on, have a sing along.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>By the time everyone had left, Gordon was beyond exhausted. His body still felt very sore, and even though he had a great time just talking and showing whatever he could find to the sirens, he felt like it completely drained him of all his energy. So when everybody left, and he finally got the chance to reunite with the shitty Black Mesa bed, there was zero hesitation as Gordon basically collapsed onto the covers and fell asleep. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Which of course didn’t last long, sleeping down here </span>
  <em>
    <span>never </span>
  </em>
  <span>lasted long enough because something always woke him up. Gordon shifted in the covers of the bed, groaning in response to the sound of the heavy metal of the base creaking. Gordon knew what it meant. He was aware that Benrey was either already on the base or attempting to get onto the base. He groaned, his body still felt heavy and sore. Gordon just wanted to </span>
  <em>
    <span>sleep </span>
  </em>
  <span>and not be woken up by something for once.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But then he remembered the last time he heard the metal creaking, and the shocking sight of </span>
  <em>
    <span>Benrey, </span>
  </em>
  <span>out of all the sirens, staying in the Vehicle Dock, bleeding out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That memory was enough motivation to force himself out of the bed, despite his sore body’s protests. He yawned and took a moment to stretch, but hearing another loud creak of the metal, Gordon slowly started to trudge his way towards the Vehicle Dock. His leg still stung a little with every step, but it was much more tolerable than yesterday, so he didn’t care too much. This time Gordon expected Benrey or maybe even one of the other sirens, but what he didn’t expect was a fucking submarine actually loaded into the Vehicle Dock. Gordon stopped in the doorway, moving his glasses up to rub his eyes hoping he was dreaming. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t. He fucking wasn’t. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon could feel himself trembling, as the thoughts raced through his head. He recognized this sub as the one that brought him to and from the base and the surface, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>what was it doing here? </span>
  </em>
  <span>He still had 2- maybe 3- days left. It shouldn’t be here, he still had </span>
  <em>
    <span>time </span>
  </em>
  <span>to get information, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>thought </span>
  </em>
  <span>he had time. Gordon flinched and nearly screamed whenever the door the top hatch to the tiny submarine opened with a hiss, and Gordon felt that same feeling he did when he first saw Benrey: the urge to run away and hide as fast as possible but being stuck from fear.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He felt like when he couldn’t swim when the colossal squid was talking to him and Gordon could swear he felt the cold, heavy water filling his lungs and crushing his body and the tentacles slowly wrapping over his body. Gordon could swear he felt that heavy weight on his chest again, and noticed how he was finding it more and more difficult to breathe as a figure slowly exited the submarine. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon finally found the strength to take a single step back, as the figure walked onto the Vehicle Dock. Once they were in full view, Gordon could recognize their uniform as a soldier which really didn’t make Gordon feel safe. He took another step back, his hands shaking as he struggled to fight the urge to claw at his throat cause he felt like he </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t breathe</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Calm down, Freeman,” the soldier said, and Gordon recognized it as the same voice on the phone. The soldier crossed their arms, and glanced around the vehicle dock, until his eyes met the blood-stains on the floor. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What happened here?” They asked, crouching down to get a better look at the blood. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“F-Fuck off-“ Gordon snapped, almost cringing from just how </span>
  <em>
    <span>weak </span>
  </em>
  <span>and </span>
  <em>
    <span>scared </span>
  </em>
  <span>his voice sounded. The soldier wasn’t too affected, and continued staring at the blood, until they looked back at Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is it human’s or siren’s?” The soldier asked, far too calmly for Gordon’s taste.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I said fuck off. Go back in your fucking submarine and let me continue my research!” Gordon managed to find his voice just long enough to be able to shout that, but his body posture and language made it all too clear just how anxious and terrified the man was. The soldier’s calm stare shifted into one of more frustration and menace.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then where is your research?” They said, standing up and stepping closer to Gordon, who one step back for every step the soldier took. “Show it to me, now.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-“ Gordon stumbled, panicking far too much to think of a lie. Instead, Gordon tried dodging the question. “Why are you fucking here?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m here to make sure you aren’t backing out. Black Mesa can’t afford that kind of shit. Now where’s your fucking research?” The soldier questioned, their tone getting more aggressive. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon was panicking far too much to think clearly, and it didn’t help that the soldier was getting closer. Gordon was so fucking terrified, as he backed into the glass hall, his eyes darting around and looking through the glass, hoping maybe Benrey or </span>
  <em>
    <span>someone </span>
  </em>
  <span>would come and help him. But there was only the dark ocean. No tails, sirens, </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Gordon</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I don’t want to fucking be here. Just show me the research or the Dock won’t be the only place with blood on it,” the soldier basically growled, and Gordon shakily nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck, what could he give them?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon started walking towards the bedroom, his mind struggling to rip his focus from the soldier following </span>
  <em>
    <span>way </span>
  </em>
  <span>too close behind him. Gordon tried to shove down and bottle up the fear, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>yeah </span>
  </em>
  <span>he couldn’t do that when the soldier was following right fucking behind him. Gordon took in a shaky breath, and started to rummage around the bedroom, while the soldier leaned against the wall of the entrance to the room, tapping their foot impatiently. Gordon couldn’t find </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything </span>
  </em>
  <span>in the room that could pass for research, he usually just writes down everything at the end of the week because </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing </span>
  </em>
  <span>ever happens. He had no fucking clue why they wanted the research so badly now, and the tension and stress was really starting to get to the man as he was basically tearing through the little things he had, trying to find something.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Until he threw his hoodie across the room, and heard a more harsh </span>
  <em>
    <span>thunk </span>
  </em>
  <span>from the pockets. Gordon’s eyes widened with a mixture of both fear and realization when he remembered the notepad. Gordon started to get up to go grab it, and hide it, despite the fact it was the only research he had, but that was the problem. Any question he asked Tommy, had the answer in there. The drawings of his friends were in there, as shitty as they were. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Any </span>
  </em>
  <span>info he thought was important, he wrote it down in there.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fuck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wanted to scream when he saw the soldier make their way towards the old hoodie, and by the time Gordon had snapped out of the panicked through to racing through his head and was standing up, the soldier was already at the hoodie and found the notepad and was looking through the pages. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you weren’t lying, huh?” They said, as they looked at Gordon, who was trembling in fear once again and stared at the soldier like a scared puppy. Gordon didn’t answer, he could only think about how much he just fucked up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...well I’ll just take this then and bring it back. Sorry for doubting you, F-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“GIVE IT BACK-“ Gordon snapped, failing to think clearly and cutting off the soldiers words by attempting to </span>
  <em>
    <span>punch </span>
  </em>
  <span>them in their face when they tried walking past him. </span>
  <em>
    <span>And he actually punched a fucking soldier, right on their nose.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The soldier stumbled back, just as much in shock as Gordon was. He wasn't thinking when he threw the punch, and Gordon could only look in horror from his hand that wore a few drops of blood, to the soldier’s face with a nose that was starting to bleed. After the seconds of shock wore off, the soldier had a face of emotion that was beyond furious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon never wanted to take back the last few seconds more than he wanted to now, as he got prepared to defend himself. Before Gordon could even blink, the soldier charged at him, and Gordon, having a sore and still sick body and absolutely no military experience, couldn’t defend himself as the soldier quickly striked Gordon in his stomach. Gordon cried out in pain, as the soldier quickly grabbed both of him and pulled them behind his back before he could even do anything else. Gordon tried to struggle, but he knew it was useless.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Looks like I’ll have to take back my previous statement about the blood,” the soldier said, and Gordon couldn’t find the strength to cry out or scream whenever he heard the click of a Swiss Army knife. Gordon tensed, preparing for the worst, and really wishing that by some miracle </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>would happen or something would save him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But the blade digging into the skin of his right wrist, told him that wasn’t going to happen. Gordon tried screaming, like anybody would actually come and save him, and desperately trying to pull away as he felt the blade dig deeper into his skin. All Gordon could feel was blinding pain, much worse than the after effects of the water pressure, as he continued trying to pull away and </span>
  <em>
    <span>scream </span>
  </em>
  <span>as the soldier continued to dig the blade deeper and deeper, until Gordon could hear something hit the ground. The soldier let go of Gordon, who collapsed onto the ground, holding his wrist in agony, as blood freely flowed from where his hand used to be. Gordon was no longer screaming, just clenching his teeth so hard he thought they would shatter like glass and groaning as he found it more and more difficult to process anything as he could only feel the pain from his wrist. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon watched as the soldier walked in front of him, not even bothering to glance at him, as they crouched down and picked up the notepad, and put it in their pocket. Gordon tried to push himself up onto his knees, but failed once the noticed just how much fucking blood there was, and it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>his. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It made him feel nauseous on top of the pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He watched as the soldier took out something from his pocket, an object small and long but Gordon couldn’t tell what it was. The soldier walked over to Gordon, who was still writhing in agony on the floor, not able to do much else. Gordon tried pushing away, despite the pain, but was far too slow and weak. The soldier kneeled down in Gordon’s puddle of blood that was only growing larger by the second, and Gordon recognized the small object as a syringe. Before he had the chance to do anything about it or even react, he felt the stinging pain of a needle in his thigh. He cried out in pain, clenching his bleeding wrist even harder, and curling up a little once the soldier removed the needle.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, Freeman, but Black Mesa can’t risk having you dead,” they explained, before standing back up and looking down at Gordon, who was finding it more and more difficult to comprehend anything and focus by the second. Gordon could only watch as the soldier started walking towards the exit of the room and everything faded to black. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I REALLY hated this chapter and struggled a lot as I wrote it<br/>Idk why but this chapter was just beyond difficult and I had to get it over with, so sorry if this chapter is bad</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Put some pickles on, and play the Mellotron?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Benrey stayed far from the sea base when he saw the submarine sticking out from the Vehicle Dock. He came to mess with Gordon, but the submarine activated all the alarm bells in his head. He’s seen a submarine before, usually a docked one, but he knows the routine of the scientists. One week in the base, then a sub would come and replace the scientist with somebody else for a week, and then it would repeat. But Benrey could’ve </span>
  <em>
    <span>sworn </span>
  </em>
  <span>there was still time left before Gordon had to leave. So, Benrey didn’t fully leave. He swam until he was positive a human wouldn’t be able to spot him in the dark water, but enough to where he could still vaguely see the glass hallway and what was happening, suddenly grateful that he could see much better than humans could in the water.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey squinted as he observed a figure- no- wait that was Gordon. He observed Gordon slowly walking through the glass hallway, and then out of sight. Benrey sighed in frustration, and waited until the man came back into view. It took… quite a while until something happened, and Benrey </span>
  <em>
    <span>totally </span>
  </em>
  <span>didn’t get distracted by a jellyfish swimming past him, but when Benrey looked back at the glass hallway, Gordon was heading down it once again, but this time there was another figure following him. Benrey narrowed his eyes, as he tried to make out the shape of the figure, but failed to recognize it as anything familiar. It was following very close behind Gordon, and Benrey didn’t like it. He watched as they disappeared into another room, and Benrey </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>started to wish that Black Mesa designed the base with more windows. He was tempted to swim closer, but decided against it and waited.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And waited.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And </span>
  <em>
    <span>waited.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey had no clue how much time had passed when he saw a figure walk through the glass hallway again. The oarfish’s tail swayed as he squinted again, trying to make out the figure. They were too far to make out any details, but he was certain it wasn’t Gordon. And he didn’t trust that. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck it. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Benrey started to swim a little closer, keeping slow and being as cautious as he could. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey lost all of that caution and keeping slow once he saw the submarine start to depart from the Vehicle Dock. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He swam as fast as he could, which wasn’t too fast but thankfully faster than a heavy submarine starting to leave. He made sure to avoid the view of the base and the submarine, not wanting to be seen, but he continued swimming quickly towards the vehicle, desperately trying to catch up with it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And he did. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He dug his claws into the metal of the submarine, just to make sure he had a secure grip onto it. This wasn’t the first time he had to kill a human, but taking down a submarine was new. Benrey was very thankful that the submarine wasn’t going too fast, and he started to wrap his tail around the submarine, mostly to slow it down even more. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The submarine started to get slower, and slower until it came into a stop. And Benrey knew it wasn’t him who did that. Groaning, Benrey hit his head on the submarine, as he saw tentacles start to wrap around the sub as well. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Benrey,” the familiar voice of the colossal squid was everything but music to the oarfish’s ears.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is MY submarine, bro get your own,” Benrey said as G-man showed himself. Benrey tightened his grip on the submarine, dragging his claws through the metal and feeling the metal of the submarine creak as the weight and pressure of his tail began to dent it. At this point he had completely forgotten about the human inside. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Black Mesa claims the ownership of the submarine, Benrey. However, we shouldn’t let that fact distract us from what’s important,” G-Man said, releasing his grip on the submarine, once Benrey had gotten a tight hold on the small vehicle. He found it a shame that he couldn’t hear or see the panic on the person’s face. Benrey growled, and tried to focus more on crushing the submarine and clawing open the hatch. He heard the metal groan and dent, as well as some glass crack.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why are you here?” The oarfish hissed, continuing to tighten the tail’s hold on the submarine similar to how a snake would strangle their prey. His claws finally got the hatch open, and he opened it just enough to where the water filled the submarine, catching a very quick glimpse of the person in the submarine, who was struggling and screaming. Benrey closed it and pushed the metal of the hatch to where it would be nearly impossible to open, after the sub filled with water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re slacking,” G-man started, starting to slowly swim around Benrey menacingly, as he watched the siren continue to crush the submarine like an aluminum can, along with the person inside it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not this again-“ Benrey muttered, pulling the grip on his tail tighter and hearing the glass shatter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You have a liking for Mr. Freeman-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“YEAH I KNOW TH-“ Benrey started in a childish tone, frustrated as his claws dug deep into the metal of the sub, but got cut off by one of the G-man’s tentacles wrapping quickly around his neck, </span>
  <em>
    <span>digging </span>
  </em>
  <span>into it. It felt </span>
  <em>
    <span>sharp. </span>
  </em>
  <span> Benrey shut up at that, a soft hum and blue orbs of light escaping his lips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Listen to me,” G-Man said, his tone getting more aggressive. Benrey didn’t move his head or try to speak, he pulled his claws to make a fist as he struggled to breathe. He watched as some of the colossal squid’s tentacles reached into the trashed and broken submarine, and pulled out the corpse of a Black Mesa soldier. They were holding something in their hand. The oarfish’s slim eyes drifted to what looked like a soaked notepad in the corpse’s hands. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know you care for Mr. Freeman deeply. I too, care for someone-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, right,” Benrey spat, earning a glare from the G-man, who had the corpse tied up in his tentacles now. One of the tentacles wrapped around the notepad, and gently put it down next to his clawed fists. He unwrapped the tentacle around Benrey’s neck, and continued. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I care deeply for my progeny, but I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know </span>
  </em>
  <span>who they are, what they’re like, and I could go on. You don’t know Mr. Freeman. You don’t have the slightest clue of what they’re like, my associate.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey listened to the G-man, but was no longer looking at him, but instead at the notepad. He grabbed it, being careful and making sure his claws didn’t rip the already soaked and difficult to interpret paper. The oarfish flipped through the pages of drawings of everyone, information on everyone, </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Benrey’s eyes widened, as he looked over the pages over and over again like it would make them go away. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...Gordon.. wouldn’t sell us out… he’s not like that,” Benrey muttered, looking back up at G-Man. He didn’t want to believe that everything that happened was Gordon using him. For the first time in </span>
  <em>
    <span>years </span>
  </em>
  <span>he felt something new, did something </span>
  <em>
    <span>fun. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He didn’t want to think that everything Gordon gave him was nothing more than to earn his trust and see how he’d react. He didn’t want to think that when Gordon helped him back in the Vehicle Dock, it was just to get his trust and maybe even find out how sirens react to pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The evidence is right in front of your eyes, Benrey. You are aware that we must bear the responsibility of keeping the others safe, since we are the strongest, yes? You </span>
  <em>
    <span>must </span>
  </em>
  <span>hold up to that task. We can not afford to pick favorites, as that is how we danger ourselves.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then why don’t you do it, bro? I’m- I’m</span>
  <em>
    <span> tired </span>
  </em>
  <span>of being bad.” Benrey whined, starting to tear apart the notepad as he avoided eye contact with the colossal squid. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ll have to be bad, as it is your turn. I was in charge of the warning this time, and you are responsible for the execution. We do not have a choice in the matter, regrettably. And I would personally rather see my progeny swimming out here freely, rather than being stuck in a tank in Black Mesa,” the G-Man calmly said, loosening his grip on the corpse. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I thought I could trust him,” Benrey grumbled, ripping up the last few pieces of the notepad and watching them float away. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You can not trust Black Mesa, Benrey. Now I need to get going. I’ll see you after the… Mr. Freeman issue is handled. If you fail to do your job, well… you know what happens, don’t you Benrey?” The G-man said, a smug grin on his face as let go of the soldier’s corpse and left, leaving Benrey alone. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Go down, let’s go down</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gordon was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the now stitched-up-and-taken-care-of-stump that was where his hand used to be. It made him feel nauseous, similar to how looking at the blood-stained metal floor of the bedroom did, yet he couldn’t stop staring at it. He had just woken up, unaware of how much time had passed while he was unconscious, and his hand was stitched up and taken care of. His only guess could be the soldier, which started to make sense the more he thought about it. Of </span>
  <em>
    <span>course </span>
  </em>
  <span>they wouldn’t just let him die or bleed out on the ground, because Black Mesa “needed” him to document the sirens (which he didn’t want to do anymore). Speaking of the sirens, he couldn’t help but feel a little bitter towards them. He knew they couldn’t do anything about it, even if they were there or tried, but it didn’t get rid of the feeling. Gordon sighed, turning his right arm a little, and hissed at the pain it caused. He grabbed his wrist, and cringed a little. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He </span>
  <em>
    <span>hated </span>
  </em>
  <span>this. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>hated </span>
  </em>
  <span>how it felt like his hand was still there. That he could still feel like he could move his fingers. That he could still feel the </span>
  <em>
    <span>burning </span>
  </em>
  <span>where his hand should be. Gordon slowly got off the bed. He was tired of wearing the blood stained shirt he was currently wearing. He took it off, making sure to be extra careful and slow when it came to the area around his right arm, even if no matter how careful he was it didn’t dull the faint stinging any less. It took so much longer to get the shirt on and find a loose and baggy jacket and put it on than it would’ve if he still had his right hand. Another note to the list of things he </span>
  <em>
    <span>hated</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He did have to admit that the jacket was pretty comfortable. But it’s not like he had time to dwell on the positives, because at the moment, he wanted painkillers, Advil, </span>
  <em>
    <span>whatever </span>
  </em>
  <span>more than anything else. He didn’t hesitate on walking to the storage boxes or whatever they were called. Gordon noticed how he felt so much more exhausted, irritated, and apathetic this morning. He wasn’t sure if it was the stress and exhaustion catching up to him, or him losing his fucking hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon stuffed his right hand in the jacket pocket, biting his lip at the sudden spike of pain once the stump hit the fabric of the jacket inside the pocket, but Gordon couldn’t care less. It looked… normal. Like he didn’t even lose his hand. It still hurt and stung, but it looked like he still had his hand and that comforted the man. It didn’t take long before he made it to the boxed, and he didn’t waste time staring at the boxes and immediately tore off the lid, rummaging around and throwing whatever wasn’t needed out of the box to hopefully find some painkillers quicker. Quite a few items hitting the floor later, Gordon found a spare medkit. He opened it, struggling quite a bit in the process with only one hand, before it finally gave in and snapped open. He sighed in relief, and by some miracle, there was Advil in the medkit. Some time struggling to open the pill bottle later, and Gordon took two pills and took them without hesitation. </span>
  <em>
    <span>God </span>
  </em>
  <span>he hoped this would help. Gordon closed the pill bottle and tossed it back into the first aid kit, which he also tossed back into the storage box. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And of course, the medical kit landed on the crossbow and tranq bolts he had seen before. Gordon paused for a moment, just staring at it. He thought about what would have turned out different if he had the crossbow with him when the soldier came. What would have happened if he shot the soldier and just dumped his body into the ocean? Gordon shuddered at that thought, but if he did, he probably would still have a hand. He sighed, and picked up the crossbow and bolts. This time, he was going to keep them where he could easily grab them. Just in case. Gordon made his way back to the bedroom, throwing the crossbow and bolts onto the bed. And perfect timing! His watch starts beeping. Gordon groaned very loudly, in frustration. How the fuck was he supposed to mess with machines with only </span>
  <em>
    <span>one </span>
  </em>
  <span>hand? He didn’t really have much of a choice, and Gordon turned off the watch (being thankful the watch was on his right arm), and basically dragged himself to the engine room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Gordon wasn’t exactly sure how much time had passed when he finished tampering with the machines, but he knew he had been in there for a few hours (or at least that’s what it felt like). A quick glance at his watch confirmed that he was right, and he was apparently in the engine room struggling for 3 and a half hours. Fun. Gordon put his right hand back in his jacket pocket. He didn’t want to see the stump. It made him feel sick and not seeing it made him feel better. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Gordon was making his way back to the glass hall, he paused when he heard a voice coming from the Vehicle Dock. He immediately tensed, mind racing as he took a step back, fearing the worst. The soldier </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>be back, they had the fucking research they wanted, what more did they want? Then Gordon recognized the quiet and faint voice as the one belonging to one of the sirens. He relaxed a little. He would take them over that soldier any day. But even if Gordon relaxed a little, he didn’t move. He stayed where he was, listening to the voice one of his friends.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wanted to go to the Vehicle Dock and talk with them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He missed them, despite the slight bitter feeling he had earlier. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But he also dreaded the idea of them seeing his hand gone and bombarding him with questions and asking if he is okay. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>didn’t want to deal with that. He loved them, but he really didn’t want to think about what happened or talk about it. And if they did ask about it, he would probably have to mention the notepad and he didn’t want to get into </span>
  <em>
    <span>that, </span>
  </em>
  <span>because that’d basically be admitting to giving away crucial information about every single one of them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yet he still just wanted to sit and talk with them. He wanted that more than anything else right now. He couldn’t stop thinking about the fun moments he had with everybody. It was some of the most fun he’s had in his life.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fuck it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He would rather be with one of them and hiding his arm rather than sitting and waiting for something interesting to happen. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon stuffed both arms into his pockets, making sure his right one looked </span>
  <em>
    <span>perfect </span>
  </em>
  <span>so nobody would suspect he had a missing hand, and anxiously made his way towards the Vehicle Dock. He didn’t know why he felt so nervous, maybe it was because he was hiding his arm, or maybe it was because of the notepad, or maybe it was even both. Gordon couldn’t tell at this point, but it’s not like it mattered at this point. Gordon wasn’t really surprised to see the familiar oarfish in the water of the pool in the Vehicle Dock, and couldn't help but smile softly at them. He really enjoyed Benrey’s company. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Howdy dude,” Gordon said, sitting close to the ledge of the pool. Benrey looked up at them, no emotion on their face as usual.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yo, Feetman,” they greeted. Gordon rolled his eyes at the nickname, but if he was being honest, it put him in a better mood. Gordon squinted a little, and noticed how Benrey looked… stressed. His face was apathetic at first glance, but studying it, it looked almost strained. The oarfish’s body was visibly tense as well, and the pupils were no longer wide and large, but now slim. That worried Gordon a little.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...are you okay dude?” Gordon asked, getting the attention of Benrey, who seemed a little more out of it than usual.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“....huh?” Benrey responded with, and Gordon sighed. He should’ve guessed that he would respond with that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You look stressed,” Gordon said, a look of concern spreading across his face as Benrey looked away and didn’t say anything. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you hurt again? I… I have some more stuff that could probably help,” Gordon added, not paying attention how worried his voice sounded because he </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>really worried. Benrey didn’t say anything for a few moments, before softly nodding. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where? Can you please show me?” Gordon rambled a little, as he leaned forward a little. He had completely forgotten about his own hand at this point, but it was still thankfully hidden in his jacket pocket. Benrey nodded again, still not looking at Gordon.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My wrist…” the siren quietly muttered, and held out his hand for Gordon to “check”. Gordon gently grabbed the siren’s wrist with his left hand to see, and carefully looked at and observed the hand. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Nothing </span>
  </em>
  <span>seemed wrong with it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...there’s nothing wrong w-“ Gordon started before getting cut off by his own scream, as he felt Benrey grab his wrist and try and pull him into the water. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Let’s go down, dont you want to come down</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gordon screamed as Benrey started to pull him closer to the water. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m not doing this again- is not going back in there- fuck no- </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon panicked, desperately kicking his feet as he struggled against the oarfish, who had a tight and painful grip on his wrist. He didn’t want to lose another hand, he didn’t want to go back in the freezing cold water, he didn’t want to feel the weight of water crushing him, he didn’t want to feel water flowing into his lungs and making his chest tighter and tighter, and having to deal with a sore body. He couldn’t go through that again, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and he </span>
  <em>
    <span>wouldn’t. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Just as Gordon was on the edge of the Vehicle Dock, he quickly bit down onto the siren’s hand as </span>
  <em>
    <span>hard </span>
  </em>
  <span>as he could. Gordon didn’t let go until the siren shouted in pain, and loosened their grip completely. Gordon snatched his hand back and stumbled back towards the wall, pressing his body against it. He could taste iron on his tongue. He watched as Benrey held his hand in pain, and put it back under the water, beginning to tint the water a dark red color. Benrey looked back at Gordon, narrowing his eyes, and pulling back his lips and growling a little.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“WHAT THE HELL, DUDE!” Gordon snapped, yelling after him, and stomping his foot against the metal angrily. He's been through too fucking much and didn’t even know why Benrey decided to add onto it. Gordon didn’t know how he managed to keep his right arm still in his jacket pocket in the moment, but he did. It was still there. Still hidden. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew </span>
  </em>
  <span>this was going to happen,” Benrey snarled, glancing at Gordon with his dull and pained eyes, before going back under the water. Gordon watched as the oarfish disappeared, but that didn’t calm him. He could feel his heart still racing and his quick and short breaths. He didn’t have time to dwell on what Benrey said, he needed something to defend himself. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>needed </span>
  </em>
  <span>safety. Then the image of the crossbow and tranq bolts popped into his head. He needed to get back to it, as quickly as he could. He refused to be unprepared for another fight, even… even if it’s against somebody he trusted. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon started to run, his feet slamming hard against the metal floor as he made his way into the glass hallway, and he was getting to the entrance to the bedroom, when he froze. He froze when he started to see that same fucking oarfish’s tail begin to wrap around the glass wall of the base like a snake. The human part of the siren showed himself, pressing their hands against the glass and peering in, looking at Gordon with slim eyes. Gordon backed up, completely forgetting about the crossbow. All he could focus on was his racing heart and building fear, as Benrey looked in at him. Gordon still kept the right hand in his pocket, he didn’t want Benrey to think he was vulnerable. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You- you </span>
  <em>
    <span>KNEW </span>
  </em>
  <span>this would happen,” Benrey started again, as he scratched the glass with his claws, blood still floating from his wound. “I’m TELLING you- I’m- i- I didnt- I didn’t WANT to do this.. but I HAVE to, I-I have to- I </span>
  <em>
    <span>need </span>
  </em>
  <span>to be baaad, you FORCED me to be baaad, so I have to be baad,” Benrey rambled on, continuing to wrap the tail around the glass as he did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT-“ Gordon shouted, in response. He had no idea what Benrey was rambling on about.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t HEAR you bro.. but I- he- he </span>
  <em>
    <span>TOLD </span>
  </em>
  <span>you, he WARNED you.. you- you </span>
  <em>
    <span>ignored </span>
  </em>
  <span>him, you didn’t LISTEN bro.. that- that stupid </span>
  <em>
    <span>fucking </span>
  </em>
  <span>squid- he TOLD you- he.. you…” Benrey stopped for a second, and Gordon remembered the crossbow. He looked towards the direction of the bedroom, and then looked back at Benrey who looked… unsure. Almost </span>
  <em>
    <span>confused, </span>
  </em>
  <span>before their expression twisted back to anger. “You were SUPPOSED to keep quiet.. but- but you just- you just HAD to go and </span>
  <em>
    <span>say </span>
  </em>
  <span>something.. n-now </span>
  <em>
    <span>I </span>
  </em>
  <span>have to go and- and fucking.. KILL you.. and- and I don’t wanna do that! I don’t- I don’t but I fucking HAVE to.. but- but I thought- I thought you were NICE- I thought that I- that I could </span>
  <em>
    <span>trust </span>
  </em>
  <span>you- but you HAD to go and.. and put us all in DANGER, bro- so I have to be BAAAD, and I- I don’t wanna do that- I don’t- I don’t wanna kill you- but- but I HAVE to- I HAVE to kill you- even if I don’t wanna- even if- even if I LIKED you bro..” Benrey continued to ramble, before stabbing his claws into the glass. Gordon watched as it cracked, and stumbled back, looking up at the cracks and back to Benrey who had so many emotions written on his face, and Gordon could tell none of them were good. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey looked back at Gordon, frustrated that Gorodn didn’t just let him drag him into the water and kill him quickly. Now he would have to kill Gordon </span>
  <em>
    <span>slowly </span>
  </em>
  <span>and he didn’t want to do that. The oarfish started to slowly tighten his grip on the glass hall, listening to the glass start to crack in different places as the pressure from his tail started to slowly break the base. He avoided looking at Gordon, now. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Benrey knew that if he wasn’t already underwater, he would probably be crying. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon watched as the glass started to crack, and he </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew </span>
  </em>
  <span>he couldn’t waste another second. He quickly ran back to the bedroom, and immediately saw the crossbow and bolts sitting on top of the bed. He didn’t hesitate to grab one, but… </span>
  <em>
    <span>how the fuck do you load and shoot a crossbow with one arm?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It took quite a few minutes, and he could very faintly hear Benrey’s voice from the scanner rooms. Once he got the crossbow ready to shoot, he stuffed his right hand back in his pocket and awkwardly held the crossbow in his left hand. “Where ARE you, Feetman?” He heard Benrey shout, as he made his way towards the entrance of the glass hallway. He could very clearly see the cracks of the glass, and just how harshly Benrey was gripping onto it with his tail.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fuck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>How was he supposed to do this? He could barely even </span>
  <em>
    <span>hold </span>
  </em>
  <span>the damn crossbow, and Benrey was on the outside of the base, while Gordon was stuck inside. If he tried shooting Benrey like this, it would just hit the glass and make things worse. Gordon leaned against the wall, trying to think of something, trying to ignore the sound of the glass starting to crack some more. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had to go into the scanner room. He had to go through the glass hall again to do it, but there had to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>there that could help him. It may have had a glass wall, but it was his best bet. Gordon took a deep breath as he started to prepare himself to run. He couldn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>believe </span>
  </em>
  <span>what was happening right now. He never thought that </span>
  <em>
    <span>Benrey</span>
  </em>
  <span>, out of all the sirens, would try and kill him. He just wished he had a better understanding of </span>
  <em>
    <span>why. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Benrey’s long ramble explained some of it, but it still didn’t make a lot of sense. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But right before Gordon was about to sprint down the hallway, the sound of Benrey shouting in pain distracted him. And then he heard another voice come from the speakers, which were playing the microphone audio on the cameras outside.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the FUCK do you think you’re doing?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Bubby’s voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did you just </span>
  <em>
    <span>bite </span>
  </em>
  <span>me, bro?” He heard Benrey growl. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I sure as hell did, you bastard!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… I don’t understand! What are you doing to Dr. Freeman?” Tommy's voice whined. Tommy sounded so… scared, and honestly Gordon couldn’t blame him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… I HAVE to do this- he di-“ Benrey tried explaining, before getting cut off by Coomer’s usually cheery but now shockingly serious voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He did what, Benrey?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“IT DOESN’T MATTER-“ the oarfish snapped. “LET </span>
  <em>
    <span>ME </span>
  </em>
  <span>TAKE CARE OF HIM, BRO- HE’S GOING TO FUCKING DIE, BRO, HE </span>
  <em>
    <span>NEEDS </span>
  </em>
  <span>T-“ Benrey interrupted himself, and screamed in pain. Gordon began running across the glass hall as fast as he possibly could, thankful that his friends were distracting Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry Benrey, but you’re got giving me a lot of options!” Coomer apologized.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You.. PUNCHED me! I’m- im not even- I’m not even attacking you-“ Benrey said. Gordon listened to the base creak, watching Benrey’s tail loosen its grip on the base. Gordon finally made it to the scanner room, and started looking around for </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>that could benefit him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“FUCK yeah! Fuck em up, Coomer!” He heard Bubby shout, followed by Benrey shouting in pain again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“STOP- stop- stop- no- no- no- NO- </span>
  <em>
    <span>stop- </span>
  </em>
  <span>I don’t- I don’t want- I don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>WANT </span>
  </em>
  <span>to do this-“ Benrey shouted again, and this time Gordon wasn’t too sure who attacked him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then why are you doing it!” He heard Darnold shout. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I HAVE to- I have-“ another groan of pain from the oarfish. Gordon continued searching around the room for something when he opened a closet that was next to the computers and… connected to them? Once Gordon opened it, he realized that it was not a closet. He recognized it as something very similar to the surface level of Black Mesa. The radiation experiments. They had something called an HEV suit, and they needed a special kind of… tube structure to help people put them on. This was something similar to it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“STOP attacking me! Then- then I’ll have to attack back! I don’t wanna do that!” Benrey shouted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Too bad, dumbass!” Bubby shouted back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck… </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon thought. He had a vague idea of what this was, but he was out of options at the moment. He stepped inside it, and only hoped that it would have some sort of diving suit. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“LET GO OF HIM- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Gordon heard the muffled cry of Tommy as the machine closed behind him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Release Darnold, now!” Coomer angrily shouted at Benrey. Gordon tried to not visualize the situation and tried to focus on the beeping and whirring sounds of the machine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m NOT- I’m not going to- I can’t let him- I CAN'T let him </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt </span>
  </em>
  <span>me- he’d KILL me-“ he heard Benrey panic. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon closed his eyes and shuddered as the machine seemed to put parts of what felt like a suit over his body. It felt like some sort of sci-fi movie and he did not like it. He was forced to listen to what was happening out of his sight.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He heard Benrey shout in pain again, then he heard Bubby </span>
  <em>
    <span>shriek, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and start screaming. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“YOU ALMOST BIT MY TAIL OFF!” Bubby angrily screamed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You… you- you-“ Benrey struggled with speaking, and Gordon </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>hoped the suit would finish soon. It wasn’t even done yet, but Gordon could tell it was for deep diving because of the heavy weight on his back, which he could only guess were oxygen tanks. “You </span>
  <em>
    <span>bit </span>
  </em>
  <span>chunks of my- MY tail off, bro,” Benrey growled, but Gordon started noticing how Benrey’s voice sounded less aggressive, and more unsure and panicked. Gordon just wanted this to </span>
  <em>
    <span>stop. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t hurt Dr. Bubby! I’ll punch you </span>
  <em>
    <span>twice </span>
  </em>
  <span>as hard!” Coomer shouted, before crying out in pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I- I don’t WANT to- but if I </span>
  <em>
    <span>HAVE </span>
  </em>
  <span>to I’ll </span>
  <em>
    <span>rip off all your arms,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Benrey snarled, before snapping at something else. “Get- Get OFF me, BRO-“ </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No! Then let Darnold go! I don’t understand why you’re doing this! He can’t breathe- just- please let him go!” Tommy cried out, his voice shaking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“NO- I can’t- he…. he..” Benrey drifted off, getting quiet for a few moments. The suit was </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally</span>
  </em>
  <span> done and the machine opened, and Gordon heard a loud </span>
  <em>
    <span>thunk </span>
  </em>
  <span>from behind him. It was a helmet. Gordon took a moment to look at the suit. It looked very close to the HEV suit, but with blue instead of orange, ridiculous looking flippers instead of boots, and large oxygen tanks on the back. It was heavy, but he didn’t have much time. He grabbed the crossbow, almost dropping it in the process with the large and thick glove on his left hand, and started running to the Vehicle Dock, continuing to listen to what was happening around him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He- he’s VENOMOUS- he has- he can… he can kill ALL of us, I’m- im not risking my DEATH- when I’m trying- I’m TRYING to </span>
  <em>
    <span>HELP!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Benrey shouted, his voice sounding like it was breaking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“THEN WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING US, GENIUS?” Bubby shouted, angrily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re- YOU’RE ATTACKING ME! I don’t WANT to hit back- I HAVE to-“ Benrey shouted back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then stop attacking Gordon!” Coomer shouted. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I CAN’T!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon finally fucking made it to the Vehicle Dock, and paused before going into the water. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>hoped that this suit would work. He held onto the crossbow tight, made sure the helmet was on all the way, and jumped into the water. It wasn’t as cold or even as dark as the last time. The water didn’t feel heavy, he could see a little better, and it honestly felt like swimming in a normal pool. It was weird, but Gordon couldn’t let himself get distracted by this. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>to go to Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even if he only had one bolt and one hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This was going to be very difficult.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon could hear VERY faint and muffled shouting, and he followed it, trying to go as fast as he could without drawing attention. He didn’t know how well crossbows worked underwater, and he didn’t want to risk losing the single bolt. As he got closer, he could see exactly what was happening.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The first thing he noticed was how it seemed like the whole area had more blood than water, and as he saw Benrey, struggling to defend himself, he knew most of it was coming from. There were </span>
  <em>
    <span>many </span>
  </em>
  <span>bite marks littered along his body and quite a few bruises and gashes. The most noticeable thing was how there were </span>
  <em>
    <span>chunks </span>
  </em>
  <span>of flesh ripped out in the tail area, and even spots of his fin were broken off. Coomer was in front of Bubby, trying to punch Benrey with the mantis shrimp arms, but Benrey was holding onto those. Bubby was bleeding quite a lot, mostly from a very large bite mark on his tail. At the end of Benrey’s tail was Darnold, who’s Benrey’s tail had wrapped around, very tightly. It was mostly around his neck and arms, but even from the distance Gordon was at, he could tell Darnold could not move no matter what. It was like a snake trying to strangle its prey. Tommy was floating by Darnold, shouting something and looking terrified. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t tell what they were saying, both the water and the helmet were muffling it too much. He started to swim closer to Benrey, struggling to hold onto the crossbow as he started shaking. He knew Benrey was trying to kill him, and hurting everyone else in the process, but of course </span>
  <em>
    <span>now </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon couldn’t stop thinking about what Benrey had said</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I- I don’t wanna do that- I don’t- I don’t wanna kill you- but- but I HAVE to- I HAVE to kill you- even if I don’t wanna- even if- even if I LIKED you bro..”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon couldn't stop thinking about how Benrey said that. He sounded so… unsure and even a little reluctant, but the more Gordon thought about it, the more he realized he didn’t sound angry in the slightest. Gordon was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a muffled shout that almost sounded like somebody calling his name, and before he could think about it, he saw Benrey looking at him, shocked with wide eyes, and Gordon panicked and shot the crossbow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey flinched harshly once the bolt hit his tail, but didn’t go unconscious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Benrey started swimming towards Gordon, who tried turning around and swimming away, but before he knew it, Coomer and Bubby quickly swam in between him and Benrey. He turned around, shocked and </span>
  <em>
    <span>terrified. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Move,” Benrey demanded to the sirens. Even though his voice was still muffled Gordon could tell his tone was… strange. It wasn’t how it was before, but Gordon guessed it was because of the narcotics. Gordon heard muffled shouting, and looked over to where Darnold and Tommy were, and saw Tommy grabbing Darnold, helping him swim over to Gordon and everyone else. He looked relieved, while Darnold looked like he was on the bridge of passing out. Gordon noticed how both of them swam in front of Gordon with Bubby and Coomer protectively as well.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Move.” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Benrey repeated, dragging out the ‘o’ sound for a little bit. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe the tranquilizer bolt did work. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“Fuck no!” Coomer shouted, and Gordon couldn’t help but smile as everyone agreed with him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon looked back at Benrey’s face and realized… he wasn’t staring at Gordon, and he no longer looked unsure or panicked or anything. He looked like he was desperately trying to stay awake, and Gordon followed Benrey’s eyes to see where he was staring. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was looking at Gordon’s right arm, and the suit made it all too obvious that his hand was no longer there. “Please,” Benrey said, sounding </span>
  <em>
    <span>exhausted</span>
  </em>
  <span>, before he lost the fight to the tranquilizer </span>
  <em>
    <span>(and maybe blood loss) </span>
  </em>
  <span>and finally closed his eyes and fell unconscious. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>ALMOST 3000 WORDS JFC</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. And wriggle on, count to twenty one</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gordon swam back a little from the unconscious, large, and bleeding body of Benrey, his heart still thumping with adrenaline and taking in everything that happened. He knew Benrey was large and long before, but he only just now realized how </span>
  <em>
    <span>massive </span>
  </em>
  <span>he was. It was… terrifying. Gordon flinched harshly when he felt Coomer pull him into a tight hug, shouting “Hello, Gordon!” Gordon couldn’t see the mantis shrimp’s face, due to his head being shoved over their shoulder, but he could tell he was smiling. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you… Gordon..” Darnold basically wheezed out, softly smiling at Gordon before joining in on the hug. He said it so quietly, that Gordon almost didn’t hear it, especially with the helmet muffling everything and making it difficult to hear. Before Darnold hugged him, he could vaguely make out a rather large mark on his throat and waist. Gordon didn’t want to think about just how hard Benrey wrapped their tail around them, especially considering the damage the oarfish did to the base with it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Dr. Freeman! I- I was scared.. I don’t like fights,” Tommy quietly muttered before joining in on the group hug, happily wrapping his tentacles around everyone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cheesy bastards. But thank you, Gordon,” Bubby said, lightly patting Gordon’s shoulder. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Coomer </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally </span>
  </em>
  <span>released Gordon of the death grip of the group hug, and as soon as the mantis shrimp released, everyone else let go too. Gordon didn’t say anything. He was thankful for everyone helping him, but he couldn’t help but look at Benrey. He was in worse shape than when he climbed onto the Vehicle Dock bleeding out. Gordon felt… </span>
  <em>
    <span>bad. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Despite everything, he felt bad for Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I- I don’t wanna do that- I don’t- I don’t wanna kill you- but- but I HAVE to- I HAVE to kill you- even if I don’t wanna- even if- even if I LIKED you bro..”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon couldn’t stop thinking about the way Benrey said that, and just how unsure and confused his face looked while he was saying it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gordon? You there? Hello?” Bubby asked, waving his hand in front of the man’s face, who flinched and swam back, a little, gripping the crossbow a little tighter. Bubby noticed the reaction, thankfully, and stopped waving his hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe we should all go back to the Vehicle Dock.. and…” Tommy started, looking away from Gordon and to Benrey. Tommy looked worried, but looked back to Gordon with a shaky smile. “He’s… he’s not dead right?” Tommy asked, fidgeting with his fingers anxiously as he said it. Gordon shook his head, and motioned for them to follow him back to the Vehicle Dock. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon struggled getting back up into the base, since he’s never had to climb a ladder with only one arm. Once he was back on the metal floor, he basically ripped the helmet off and tossed it on the ground, his heart still thumping with adrenaline from everything. He walked over to where he usually sat, this time sitting as close to the wall as he possibly could. He stared at the ground, not looking up as everyone pulled themselves onto the base. Nobody spoke. Nobody knew how to start the conversation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon finally looked up, no longer caring about his right arm, not bothering to fix the hair in his face, he was just </span>
  <em>
    <span>so tired of this. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He saw everyone’s injuries much more clearly in here. He sighed, standing back up. “I’ll go get something to help you all. Then… then we’ll talk about everything,” Gordon said, doing his best to keep calm. The sirens nodded, not saying anything, so Gordon made his way to the storage boxes to grab the medkits. He ended up finding 3, two were the ones he used before, and quickly headed back to the Vehicle Bay. He gave one to Bubby and Coomer, who were leaning on each other and comforting each other, and one to Darnold and Tommy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You just apply pressure on the wound until it stops bleeding, then wrap it in the rope thing, cut the rope thing, and then that should help,” Gordon explained.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know how to do this dumbass,” Bubby said, starting to apply pressure. Gordon rolled his eyes, and looked towards Tommy and Darnold. Darnold was rubbing his throat, while Tommy just anxiously watched Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re not going to use the med-kit?” Gordon asked, going back to where he was and sitting down, back touching the wall. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Darnold shook his head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No… I’m fine..” Darnold slowly said, still struggling with breathing. Gordon nodded at that, and looked back at Tommy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure he’s not dead, Mr. Freeman?” Tommy asked, worry in his tone. Gordon nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Tommy. The thing I shot him with knocks him out for a while,” Gordon explained, poking at the empty crossbow in his lap. When he looked up, he noticed how a few of the sirens looked uncomfortable, and just in case, he grabbed the crossbow and tossed it away from himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gordon, apologies if this is rude, but… when were you planning to tell us about the arm?” Coomer asked, pointing at Gordon’s right arm. Gordon watched as everyone stopped what they were doing, and paused the look at him. He could </span>
  <em>
    <span>feel </span>
  </em>
  <span>their eyes looking at him and he hated it. He awkwardly shifted to sit cross legged, and hid the stump in the space between his legs and began to explain. “Black Mesa wanted information on you all sooner than I thought, and they sent a soldier here. He wanted actual information, I forgot to create fake information because I didn’t want to endanger you all, and he ended up finding a notepad where I took notes on you before I knew that… Black Mesa sucks. I tried to get it back, and accidentally punched him in the face- and he cut off my hand in response. I… have no clue if the notepad made it back or not, but I hope it didn’t,” Gordon quickly explained, looking down at the floor when he was done.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>None of the sirens responded for a few seconds, before Bubby spoke up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, he sounds like a complete bitch,” Bubby muttered, watching as Coomer grabbed the gauze and started to wrap it around the large bite mark on his tail. Gordon laughed at that, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>god </span>
  </em>
  <span>it felt so good to laugh again. It took around a minute for Gordon to actually stop laughing, before he simply responded with, “Yeah… he was a bitch.” Another lengthy silence took over the group, with occasionally awkward groans or hisses of pain. Gordon hated silence. He was about to say something, before Darnold spoke up. “So… what are we going to do.. about the probably still murderous Benrey that’s unconscious…. right outside the base?” Once again, everyone dropped what they were doing and looked at each other at that, until one of them spoke up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He- He’s not murderous!” Tommy shouted, and Gordon </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span> what was about to happen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He tried to kill us!” Bubby shouted, pointing at his tail. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tommy, know I care deeply about you, but Bubby is correct. He did attack us,” Coomer added, going back to carefully wrapping up the viperfish’s wounds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m with Tommy on this one,” Gordon quietly said. “I didn’t exactly get to see it, but… you guys did seem to attack him first.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! He was trying to defend himself,” Tommy added onto Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...wasn’t he trying to kill Gordon </span>
  <em>
    <span>before </span>
  </em>
  <span>you all attacked?” Darnold quietly muttered. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes! He was!” Bubby shouted. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...yes… but… he was saying weird things,” Gordon said, his voice barely above a whisper.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What kind of things, Gordon?” Coomer asked, carefully grabbing the scissors and cutting the gauze. After he cut it, he gently patted his lap, which Bubby responded with gently laying his head in and smiling at the mantis shrimp. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...he kept talking about how he didn’t want to do it?” Gordon started. “And- I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span> how he could just not do it if he didn’t want to, but I don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>think </span>
  </em>
  <span>it was that easy. I also really don’t want to leave him bleeding out unconscious.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you suggesting we </span>
  <em>
    <span>help </span>
  </em>
  <span>that bastard? After he almost </span>
  <em>
    <span>bit off my tail</span>
  </em>
  <span>, after nearly </span>
  <em>
    <span>strangling</span>
  </em>
  <span> Darnold, and after trying to </span>
  <em>
    <span>kill </span>
  </em>
  <span>you?” Bubby ranted, not bothering to sit up or even look at Gordon as he spoke. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...yes?” Gordon said, feeling the tension of the room build as everyone stared at him, not knowing what to say. “It’s better than him waking up- probably pissed and thinking we actually want to kill him and attacking us first.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I like that idea!” Tommy excitedly said, smiling brightly as Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I hate that idea! Let the bitch die!” Bubby shouted, still not bothering to sit up and look at anybody.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well… I’d rather have Benrey on our side… I- I don’t want to have to fight again.. It was… way too much,” Darnold said, looking at Tommy and Gordon with a soft smile. The three turned their attention to Coomer and Bubby.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… I have to agree with Darnold, as much as I </span>
  <em>
    <span>love </span>
  </em>
  <span>the thrill of a battle. But, it’s best to have Benrey with us,” Coomer said, looking down at Bubby who was now scowling at him. Bubby sat up, and crossed his arms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine, but if he tries to attack any of us again, I’m not going to fucking help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wonderful, Bubby!” Coomer said, before turning to Gordon. “Do you have any ideas?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon nodded, and started to explain.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is the stupidest fucking plan you’ve had,” Bubby complained, as he helped grab the giant oarfish’s tail and shove it onto the ledge of the Vehicle Dock.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s better than leaving him in the water to bleed out,” Gordon said, pushing Benrey’s unconscious body closer towards the wall, so that there was more room for his tail.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why is he so heavy!” Tommy whined as he and Coomer pushed up the end of his tail.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because Tommy, our friend here is half oarfish, and they can get around 600 pounds!” Coomer explained, as he started to help space out the 50 foot long tail evenly around the room as best he could from the water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...how do you even know that?” Darnold asked, as he tried to apply pressure to one of the many bite marks on the tail. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not important! What’s actually important is that Tommy and I are done!” Coomer gleefully said, swimming over to Darnold, who was sitting on the ledge, tentacles dangling into the water as he finished applying the pressure and picked up some gauze and started to wrap the tail to cover the bite mark. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You could help me with fixing the damage you two caused,” The Blue Ringed octopus said, gesturing to Bubby and Coomer. Coomer nodded, and with a “Wonderful idea, Darnold!” He grabbed the other med-kit, and swam over to the ledge, where he climbed up onto, and started to carefully take care of the wounds, with Tommy quickly following him. “I’ll help!” Tommy cheerfully said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well I’m done,” Bubby said, only to get a medical kit thrown at him by Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, you’re not,” the man said with a smug smile, watching the viperfish sigh, and haul their body onto the ledge so they could more easily access the oarfish’s wounds. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon stepped over the tail, heading towards the exit of the Vehicle Dock. “I’m gonna go grab some things. I’ll be right back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It didn’t take long for Gordon to grab what he needed, but it was… quite a lot of things. So many items that he had to use his bed sheet and fold it up similar to a bag to be able to drag it back into the Vehicle Dock. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Holy fucking shit,” Bubby said what he saw Gordon drag it in, gaining the attention of everybody else.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god,” Darnold chuckled, before going back to working on a particularly nasty and deep gash. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my, Gordon!” Coomer said in surprise.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s a- that’s a big bag, Dr. Freeman!” Tommy said, applying pressure on the same deep bite mark Coomer was applying pressure on as well. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep,” Gordon said, dropping the bedsheet on the entrance of the Vehicle Dock, and kicking it open to reveal mostly soda, medical stuff, and food. He grabbed a soda can, and tossed it to each siren, only leaving two cans left. He heard the noise of the sirens opening the cans, the fizzing sound of the Sunkist, but pushed the two remaining cans to the side where they would be out of the way. Then he started tossing sandwiches towards the sirens, again, leaving two left, where he shoved them to the side next to the cans. He smiled at his friends thanking them, but he was also proud of them for managing to mostly focus on helping Benrey, even with food and soda around. That left the medical equipment, where he put decently far from the ledge of the water, but not far enough to where it would be out of reach for any of them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you run out of anything, there’s some more right here,” Gordon said, and once he organized or gave away everything that was on the blanket, he grabbed the now empty blanket, and walked over where the most human part of Benrey was. He crouched down, and started to, as gently as he could, put the blanket over the unconscious siren and make sure it would be comfortable without risking it falling into the water.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing to him, Mr. Freeman?” Tommy asked, looking up from the bitemark he was helping Coomer wrap. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s a blanket, Tommy. It’s… it’s supposed to keep you warm and comfortable when you’re asleep,” Gorodn explained, before going to the extra sodas, grabbing one, and cracking it open and taking a drink. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You humans really live a luxury life,” Darnold commented, getting a chuckle and agreement from Bubby. Gordon smiled at that, and grabbed a small square bandage from the extra supplies pile he made. He kneeled down in front of Benrey’s face, doing his best to avoid his tail (he honestly had no idea how the other sirens were), and gently put it on a pretty bad scratch underneath the oarfish’s eye. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon couldn’t help but scramble backwards, tripping over the oarfish’s tail and falling, when their eyes began to open. </span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. And go and right a wrong, and feed the pelicans?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Dr. Freeman! What happened?” Tommy cried out from where he was, but before Gordon could answer the giant squid, their question answered itself whenever Tommy looked over and saw Benrey’s eyes open. “...oh,” he quietly said in realization. Everybody stopped what they were doing, which was finishing up the last of the wounds, and looked over. Even though Gordon wasn’t too far in front of Benrey, and he could </span>
  <em>
    <span>swear </span>
  </em>
  <span>he felt everybody else stare at the oarfish, and tense up. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Talking </span>
  </em>
  <span>about helping the one who tried to kill you, and actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>helping </span>
  </em>
  <span>them when they’re unconscious, is so much easier than having to face them when they’re awake. The metal of the base creaked under Benrey as he shifted a little bit, attempting to move his tail into a more comfortable position, but regretting it almost immediately due to his nerves </span>
  <em>
    <span>screaming </span>
  </em>
  <span>in agony at the small movement. He groaned softly, and things were finally starting to set in as he remembered what happened and struggled to grasp what was happening now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The other sirens slowly and quickly made their way back into the pool of the Vehicle Dock, to avoid Benrey being awake, and also to give him more room to move. The oarfish saw the movement, but still in the blurry process of waking up, he didn’t recognize them, and started to push himself closer to the wall to get away, hissing a little at the pain and soreness of his body. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Everything </span>
  </em>
  <span>hurt, mostly his tail, but his chest, side, face, arms, </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It felt like his nerves would break at the slightest touch. Everything leading to getting shot with the crossbow bolt was </span>
  <em>
    <span>extremely </span>
  </em>
  <span>blurry, and he struggled to remember some of it, but he could remember getting attacked and hurt by the other sirens and Gordon shooting him quite vividly. He knew he attacked Gordon first, but he didn’t have much of a </span>
  <em>
    <span>choice. </span>
  </em>
  <span>So, when he saw Gordon in front of him, looking at him in </span>
  <em>
    <span>terror</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he couldn’t help but slowly and painfully move some of his tail in front of his body to protect himself. It wouldn’t do much, but it made him feel better (if you took away the burning pain every movement caused).</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stop moving,” Gordon instructed, trying his best </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>to sound terrified and nervous, but couldn’t keep his voice from shaking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...wha?” Benrey asked, sounding… genuinely confused, mostly because he was. He was still struggling to wrap his head on what was going </span>
  <em>
    <span>on. </span>
  </em>
  <span>All he really knew was that he was in the Vehicle Dock and Gordon was still alive, right in front of him. Benrey tiredly looked around, his eyes observing the room. It was even more bloody than last time, his tail was taking up quite a lot of space, quite a lot of the wounds seemed to be… taken care of? Looking around a little bit more, he saw the other sirens floating around in the water, as if they were waiting for something. He looked back at Gordon, who was sitting cross legged in front of the oarfish. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stop- stop moving. It’s- it’s probably going to make your injuries worse,” Gordon explained, his voice still shaking but not as badly as before. Benrey listened, but that didn’t stop him from observing what was happening. He observed Gordon who… honestly looked like a mess, and he wasn’t wearing anything that Benrey had seen him wear before. Usually he wore simple fabric clothing, but he was wearing some kind of tech suit he hadn’t seen before. And then Benrey’s attention focused on Gordon’s right arm. The oarfish’s eyes widened a little bit, as he vaguely remembered noticing it before he fell unconscious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wha… what happened to your arm?” He asked, his eyes refusing to rip away from the bloody, stitched up, disgusting looking stump and the hand that was no longer there. Gordon sighed, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>not wanting to get into this conversation, before Benrey started interrupting him with other questions. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… wha.. what </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>this?” He asked, pulling at the blanket that was draped on top of him. “What’s.. what’s happening…”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Gordon knew he was still most likely half asleep, but he couldn’t help being a little shocked at just how confused Benrey was. He was expecting him to be more… angry or aggressive, since he seemed pretty determined on killing Gordon. “That’s… a blanket. It’s- it’s supposed to keep you warm and.. and comfortable,” Gordon started to anxiously explain, cautiously watching the oarfish’s every move. “And… we were helping you.. we decided to.. uh- help with your injuries..” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey looked at him, and Gordon noticed just how </span>
  <em>
    <span>dull </span>
  </em>
  <span>his eyes were. Benrey looked exhausted and confused, but also slightly frustrated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What happened to your arm?” Benrey asked again. Gordon groaned again, really not wanting to talk about this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Black Mesa sent a soldier to get my reports earlier than usual, I tried to look for a fake one, the soldier found a notepad where I kept notes of you all BEFORE I knew Black Mesa was using me-  and I accidentally punched him trying to get it back and he cut off my hand. Happy?” Gordon explained as quickly as he could. Benrey paused for a moment, and Gordon saw the conflicted look on the oarfish’s face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...you shot me,” Benrey quietly and angrily mumbled. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tried to drag his tail closer to himself to get it to curl around himself protectively, but could only groan in pain as the wounds started to stretch at the movement, and quickly gave up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, but stop moving!” Gordon shouted, starting to get frustrated. Benrey looked at Gordon, eyes narrowed and pupils thin. His lips pulled back revealing his sharp teeth, similar to how a dog would bare its teeth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You… </span>
  <em>
    <span>shot </span>
  </em>
  <span>me..” He repeated, looking down at the ground now, avoiding looking at Gordon. All the pain he felt at the moment was because of </span>
  <em>
    <span>them. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He hissed in pain as he tried to push himself up, so he wouldn’t be laying down, and shifted his dull gaze from the floor to the sirens hiding in the pool. “They.. you all.. you all tried to </span>
  <em>
    <span>kill </span>
  </em>
  <span>me..” Benrey weakly spat, his arms shaking as he struggled to keep his body up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You tried to </span>
  <em>
    <span>kill </span>
  </em>
  <span>me!” Gordon shouted, getting more and more frustrated with Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We were trying to help Gordon,” Darnold piped up, swimming closer to the ledge and gripping it with his hands, glaring at Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You were out of fucking control!” Bubby hissed, despite what he had said earlier. He swam closer to the edge as well. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… have to agree with Bubby and Darnold, Benrey. I am fond of you, but… you were acting rather horribly,” Coomer said, his tone more calm and disappointed than the other sirens.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You… you were terrifying..” Tommy quietly said, not even risking swimming closer to Benrey like the others. Benrey could still see that fear, uncertainty, and betrayal in Tommy’s eyes that he saw during the fight. Benrey looked back at Gordon, and honestly couldn't decipher any certain emotion on Gordon’s face. It was far too mixed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re supposed to be dead,” Benrey growled, glaring at Gordon. Gordon took a step back, trying to keep calm. So, Gordon took a deep breath, and sat down a few feet in front of the oarfish. He wasn’t going to back down, and he stared back. The first thing Gordon noticed was how Benrey still looked vaguely uncertain or unsure. At first glance or from a distance he looked angry, but Gordon </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew </span>
  </em>
  <span>that was fake. It was just like when Benrey was shouting at him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“so I have to be BAAAD, and I- I don’t wanna do that- I don’t- I don’t wanna kill you- but- but I HAVE to- I HAVE to kill you- even if I don’t wanna- even if- even if I LIKED you bro..”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey didn’t want to kill Gordon, and thinking back on everything it was quite obviously. But </span>
  <em>
    <span>why </span>
  </em>
  <span>was he trying so hard to do something he didn’t want to do, even if Gordon was helping him right now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You said you didn’t want to kill me. That you didn’t want to hurt anyone else,” Gordon started, trying his best to keep his expression serious and deadpan. He observed as Benrey looked shocked for a split second, before turning away to where it made it difficult to read his expression. “Yet… you seemed pretty fucking determined to kill me. Why the hell did you do it?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon waited as patiently as he could for Benrey to answer. Gordon had to bite back the urge to scream and slam his hand on the ground when the oarfish responded with a shaky, “huh?” Instead Gordon sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m obviously not going to get any fucking answers from you apparently,” Gordon grumbled, starting to get fed up with siren. He glanced towards the extra soda and sandwich he brought, and sighed. He stood up and walked over to them, still being careful to not step on Benrey’s tail, and grabbed the sandwich first. He gently put it in front of Benrey to where he could easily reach it without hurting his arms too badly. He then grabbed the soda, and set it down next to the sandwich. He wasn’t paying too much attention to what Bentley was doing or how he was reacting. Gordon then reached for the Advil bottle he had put with the extra supplies, opened it (much more easily this time now that he was getting used to it), and emptied two pills onto the floor. He closed the bottle back up, put it back with the supplies, and grabbed the two pills. Then, he held them out for Benrey to take, who was now looking from the food and soda to Gordon, a mix of pure confusion and…guilt(?) on his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...wha?” Benrey asked, sounding genuinely confused instead of sounding like he was dodging a question.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Swallow them, don’t chew it. They’re supposed to help with easing pain. It won’t get rid of it completely, but it helps,” Gordon explained, his tone of voice giving away just how tired he was of this. Benrey looked at the pills, then Gordon suspiciously, before slowly (and surprisingly gently) taking them from Gordon’s hand. He stared at them for a few more seconds, before hesitantly dropping them in his mouth and swallowing it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..it doesn’t taste like anything,” Benrey commented, still mostly confused about what was happening. Even after trying to kill him after a fucking misunderstanding, after losing his arm, after </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon was still trying to help him. He didn’t understand why, he couldn’t think of a single thing Gordon gained from this. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s medicine. It’s not supposed to taste like anything,” Gordon said, his tone a little bitter and irritated. “Will you be able to handle it if we go back to dealing with your injuries?” He asked, looking Benrey in the eyes again. His pupils weren’t as slim anymore, but they weren’t as wide as before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...fine, bro,” Benrey muttered, before slowly crossing his arms on the floor, and laying his head on them as he lied back down. He looked at the soda and sandwich Gordon gave them as the man stood up and started talking to the other sirens, but Benrey turned that out and didn’t pay any attention. He didn’t know why Gordon was still being nice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He still didn’t want to kill Gordon. Even after being shot by him. He knew it was self defense. He was still a little irritated by the others, since Benrey was trying to protect them, even if it was a misunderstanding. Benrey could feel a pit of guilt form, as he thought about Benrey’s arm. Gordon didn’t want to sell them out, hell- he punched a soldier in the fucking face trying to get it back, and got his hand cut off for it. He didn’t gain </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything </span>
  </em>
  <span>from trying to get that notepad back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey hissed in pain and dug his claws into the metal floor when he felt the stinging pain come from his tail as somebody applied pressure. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey knew he could trust Gordon. He should’ve trusted him earlier. Then he wouldn’t be in this situation. He wouldn’t be in agony laying on the floor of the Vehicle Dock with a blanket over him, his friends wouldn’t be angry or scared of him, and he probably wouldn’t have to worry about the G-man. He shivered a little at that thought. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>failed </span>
  </em>
  <span>at killing Gordon. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>terrified </span>
  </em>
  <span>his son. And now he was extremely vulnerable and Benrey </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew </span>
  </em>
  <span>he wouldn’t stand a chance against him like this. And he knew that the G-man didn’t care for Gordon too much or even know that Gordon tried to save the information. Benrey shifted again, ignoring the stinging pain and the complaint of Bubby to “stop fucking moving, you bastard!” He moved to where he was on his side, and curled in on himself a little to feel more safe. Then, he grabbed the edges of the blanket and messed with it until it was tighter and felt safer. He let out a deep breath.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t even attempt to cover his mouth when a few white lights slipped out, getting Tommy’s attention pretty quickly. He tuned out Tommy talking about how he could read it, but failed to ignore the translation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A bright white means he doesn’t feel alright!” The giant squid said, sounding rather sad.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey didn’t say anything, but he knew the translation was correct.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He really hated his sweet voice at times. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Say there, the jug or the hare?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It took a long time to finish up the last few injuries on Benrey’s tail, and Gordon noticed how the oarfish was tense the whole time, and would </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>look away from Gordon or the others. Almost like he was expecting them to attack or hurt him, again. Everytime Gordon turned to look at Benrey his gaze was fixated on somebody (usually Darnold, Bubby, or Gordon). Gordon carefully stepped in the spaces that weren’t currently taken up by the massive tail as he put everything back in one of the first aid kits. It was an annoying process of putting everything back in the storage boxes, since he had to keep going back </span>
  <em>
    <span>constantly </span>
  </em>
  <span>since he couldn’t carry as much. By the time everything was put up, he could tell that everybody else was exhausted or didn’t know what to do. They were already back in the water, avoiding Benrey, and honestly Gordon couldn’t blame them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...what now?” Tommy was the first one to break the awkward silence between everyone, his voice nervous and still not as confident and happy as it usually was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You guys could leave,” Benrey quietly muttered, his voice apathetic like normally. Everyone turned to look at the oarfish, who visibly tensed a little, his eyes moving to each person in the room. He was still a little afraid. Gordon wasn’t sure if that was good or not. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nope!” Coomer said, crossing both pairs of arms in the water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re no FUN, bro,” Benrey spat, claws digging into the metal floor again from what Gordon could only guess was frustration.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I‘d be fine alone, I think,” Gordon quietly said, getting surprised looks from everyone, including Benrey.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If we weren’t here you’d be fucking dead,” Bubby commented, getting a couple of agreements around the room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dead as a doornail!” Coomer added, cheerfully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> “Yes- i- I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know </span>
  </em>
  <span>that, but.. do you </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>think he can do much right now?” Gordon asked, gesturing to Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>right </span>
  </em>
  <span>here, bro.. not cool, kind of cringe, actually,” Benrey growled in response. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Even if he </span>
  <em>
    <span>could </span>
  </em>
  <span>do anything, I still have… this thing,” Gordon gestured to the suit that was still on him. “And I also have a crossbow with some more tranquilizer bolts. I’ll be fine.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The other sirens looked at eachother, anxiously, and tried to decide what they were going to do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, Gordon.. but we’ll stay around the area </span>
  <em>
    <span>just </span>
  </em>
  <span>in case,” Coomer said, a softer and more caring tone to his voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I sure as hell won’t,” Bubby said, before going back underwater and leaving to… wherever the sirens go when they disappear. Coomer followed shortly after him, waving goodbye with one of the shrimp arms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll stick around, be careful,” Darnold said, waving at Gordon before ducking into the water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The last one was Tommy, who looked cautiously from Benrey to Gordon. “I… I’ll stay close to here, but.. be careful.. both of you,” he quietly said, before following after Darnold. Gordon let out a breath he had no idea he was holding, and sat down where he was standing. Now that they were gone maybe he could </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally </span>
  </em>
  <span>get some answers from the oarfish. Gordon opened his mouth to speak, before getting cut off by that apathetic voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They really care about you, huh, Feetman?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t know what to say to that. He looked at Benrey, who of course, wasn’t looking at him again. He seemed a lot less tense now, and his gaze was fixated on the water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Even though.. I was trying to protect them.. and I didn’t even </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to hurt them.. it- fucking sucks- it fucking sucks for me, bro! I was doing it for- for them! And they- then they treat me like- like…” Benrey paused in his rant, struggling to find the right word. He let out a… rather sad sounding sigh, and then continued. “Like I’m baaad.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then </span>
  <em>
    <span>why </span>
  </em>
  <span>did you try to kill me? You said you didn’t want to do it, but you were pretty fucking determined to kill me, dude,” Gordon said, running a hand through his hair, frustrated and confused. He only had so much patience left in him, and there already wasn’t much left. Benrey shifted a bit, cringing a little as he dragged his tail closer to him, and looked at Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His eyes still looked dull. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey continued to stare at Gordon, only really tearing his eyes away from Gordon’s eyes to either look at his right arm, or look at the water for a moment, then go back to staring at Gordon. It made the man uncomfortable, especially since Benrey’s stare could be so </span>
  <em>
    <span>intense</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Then after what felt like an eternity, Benrey finally looked away, going back to looking at the water. “You.. you left me no choice, bro.. or.. I thought,” he “explained”, but the explanation only managed to confuse Gordon more. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I left you no choice? What the fuck do you mean by that! What did I do?!” Gordon shouted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...the notepad.. but.. I- I thought.. I thought you willingly gave it up..” Benrey muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. Gordon paused, again, not knowing what to say. But Benrey spoke again. “I.. thought you betrayed us.. I thought you put us in danger.. “ the siren’s voice stayed unusually quiet, to the point where Gordon could barely even hear him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...oh…” Gordon quietly said, following Benrey’s gaze to the dark water, that still had a slight red tint to it. “...do you need help with your food and soda?” Gordon asked, trying to change the subject, not knowing how to really continue it. Benrey didn’t look away from the water, before shaking his head and grabbing the sandwich without looking and taking small bites from it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...why did you even help me, bro?” Benrey asked, after taking another bite from the sandwich. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...I guess I got attached? I… I liked hanging out with you dude, and.. I get that you didn’t want to kill me. I still don’t understand exactly, but… as long as you don’t try anything again, I think I’m fine?” Gordon tried his best to explain, before grabbing the other sandwich he packed for himself and started to eat as well. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey didn’t say anything, he looked at Gordon for a moment, pupils widening as he did, before awkwardly shifting a little, and going back to eating and staring at the water before Gordon could notice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was nice. Just sitting in near silence while eating something. Every now and then Benrey would glance at Gordon, and would get less of a feeling of guilt and more of that usual fluttery feeling he got when looking at the man. Benrey also noticed how he was a lot less tense now. That was good. Maybe he didn’t fuck up too badly. Gordon seemed to still care about him, even if most of the others seemed to hate him. The silence continued as the two finished the sandwiches, but it wasn’t an awkward or tense silence. It kept a continuous relaxed and calm tone the whole time. Benrey wasn’t sure how Gordon felt, but he was enjoying this. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yo, Feetman, lay down, uhhhhh...  here,” Benrey said, patting a space in front of him on the metal floor. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon squinted a little, not too trusting of the siren just yet. He rolled his eyes, and looked away from the oarfish. “Dude, just because I’m helping you and like you, doesn’t mean I trust you. Why do you want me to lay there?” Gordon asked, taking a sip from the already open soda that was next to him. He heard Benrey shift, the metal of the base groaning as the large siren moved. Gordon raised a brow, but didn’t bother to look back towards Benrey, until he heard the soft hum and a light in the corner of his eye. When he turned around, he saw the siren hiding under the blanket, head underneath it like a child playing hide and seek very poorly. His webbed hands were gripping his helmet very tightly, in a poor attempt to cover his eyes, but Gordon could see the oarfish looking at the ground, purposely trying to avoid eye contact, pupils very wide and taking up most of Benrey’s eyes actually. A faint and almost smoke-like light that slipped through his lips, slowly forming into the usual orbs of light. Gordon curiously looked at colors, the original smoke starting from pink, but eventually fading to blue. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>Wonder what that means…’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon thought, before looking back at the shocked and.. scared(?) oarfish cowering under the blanket. He wasn’t exactly sure what Benrey was feeling, both the helmet and the blanket making it very difficult to read his current expression, but he could only guess it was fear. He felt bad. He didn’t exactly know how he scared him, but Gordon wasn’t a fan of seeing Benrey afraid. Gordon sighed, and put down the soda. Gordon layed down where Benrey told him, a little tense and eyes anxiously darting around. From the way he was laying, he couldn’t see Benrey and that made him </span>
  <em>
    <span>incredibly </span>
  </em>
  <span>uncomfortable. He heard the metal of the base creak again and the humming go silent, as Benrey shifted around once more. Gordon tensed, mind beginning to race, as he prepared for the worst. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Instead of one of the many negative outcomes Gordon’s brain had come up with in the short twenty seconds, Gordon was surprised to feel only a… very comforting feeling of fingers running through his hair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...what are you doing?” Gordon questioned, looking up and seeing Benrey, pupils </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>wide like a fixated cat, messing with Gordon’s hair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wanted to see what it feels like, bro,” Benrey quietly said, a tone of what sounded like wonder to his voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My hair?” Gordon asked, confused. He didn’t know </span>
  <em>
    <span>why, </span>
  </em>
  <span>out of all things Benrey could’ve done, the siren chose to play with Gordon’s hair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can stop if you want, Feetman,” Benrey said, slowly stopping playing with Gordon‘s hair. Gordon paused for a moment. It felt… nice to have some sort of contact. Even if it was from the one who had just attempted to attack him not too long ago. Gordon has been in here for almost a week, with nobody, and he got used to that. Every shift he was used to to nobody. Everytime he got home, the closest he got to contact or socialization with a loved one, was a monthly phone call to his son. He hadn’t felt… this in only god knows how long. And </span>
  <em>
    <span>god, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon never realized just how much he missed it. Just the familiar touch of somebody holding him and telling him something that made him happy for once.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t. Please.. don’t,” Gordon said, almost whining. Benrey nodded, and continued to play with Gordon’s hair, with Gordon basically leaning into the touch. It didn’t take long before Benrey started singing again, the oddly hypnotizing and calming voice relaxing Gordon’s tense nerves, as the enchanting pink to blue colors came back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t want this to stop. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. The lift or the stairs? Which will it be for you?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Pressure.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Pressure.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was all Gordon could feel.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everything else was nothing. Not the numbness one would get from irritating nerves or maybe even sitting on their foot for some time, but he felt </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Nothing but the crushing weight on his chest. It didn’t feel like a solid object on his chest, not the crushing weight of the water. It was difficult to breathe like something was sitting on top of him. Gordon looked around, but was met with nothing but a dark void. He didn’t feel panic, fear, or anything. He felt almost empty, like a human husk. He attempted to breathe out, cringing at the weight on his chest. No bubbles came out from where he exhaled, nothing floating to the top. There was nothing. He wasn’t underwater. Where was he?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon paused for a moment, before feeling the extreme pain and pressure shift from his chest to his side and back. It felt like he was being strangled by a snake. Gordon deeply inhaled, glad he could finally fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>breathe. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He slowly exhaled, savoring the fact he could breathe again. Gordon slowly looked around, trying to see if there was </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>constricting him. Of course, there was nothing. The man sighed, still feeling nothing. He wanted to get out of here. He wasn’t sure where here was, but he wanted out. He looked around, looking up, down, left, right, </span>
  <em>
    <span>everywhere</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but of course he could only find the black void that surrounded him. The situation reminded him of what happened with the colossal squid. Not knowing what else to do, Gordon closed his eyes, and waited, hoping something would help him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Gordon opened his eyes, he felt three things. Something </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>heavy was tied tightly around his waist, very similar to what he was feeling moments before, a stinging pain where his hand should be, and something… shaking? Gordon looked in front of him, realizing he was still in the Vehicle Dock. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…was he asleep? He didn’t remember falling asleep or feeling tired in general. Gordon looked down at his waist, to see what the actual fuck was wrapped around him. He wasn’t surprised to see Benrey’s tail wrapped tightly around him, almost protectively. But he was surprised to see that the source of the shaking was the oarfish himself. Gordon could feel how he was trembling, and looking at the tail wrapped tightly around him, he could see just how visibly tense it was. Gordon grabbed the tail with his left arm, and tried pushing it off him. Gordon groaned a little as he tried pushing it, only moving the heavy tail about an inch. It felt like moving a fucking boulder. Gordon sighed in defeat, before hearing a quiet and soft whine from behind him. He turned his head, to see Benrey wearing a face of fear, his sharp teeth slightly bared, and his eyes closed so tight that he couldn’t see them under the shadow of the helmet. Gordon paused, observing Benrey more. He was so visibly tense, and looking closer, he noticed how Benrey’s claws were digging into base again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>...was he having a nightmare? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon thought, curious and worried. For some reason, Benrey didn’t strike him as the kind to get nightmares. Maybe it was his size and just how terrifying the siren could be, but still. It was an odd and highly nerve wracking sight to see. Gordon paused, wanting to help. So, Gordon reached towards Benrey’s shoulder, hands hesitantly hovering over the siren’s scales, as if touching him would set the oarfish off. Gordon took a deep breath, before firmly grabbing his shoulder, and pushing him a little to try and wake him up. “Wake up, dude. It’s a nightmare. It’s- it’s not real,” Gordon said, his voice still a little tired. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He heard a hiss of protest from Benrey, along with the siren curling up even tighter, and the tail regaining its grip back on Gordon. Gordon yelped a little as the tail tightened harshly around his waist again. Bad idea- bad idea- Gordon figured, as he clenched his teeth in pain. Benrey was still asleep and shaking. Wonderful. Despite his waist and organs currently getting crushed, Gordon tried again. He pushed Benrey’s shoulder harsher this time, desperately trying to shake him awake. “Get up- get up- it’s just a dream- it’s just a dream bro-“ Gordon hissed through his teeth, before shouting in pain as the oarfish’s tail tightened even more. He felt like he was in some sort of torture device, and Gordon winced from the pain, as he watched Benrey shift and his expression relax a little. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Please- please- PLEASE wake up- </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon pleaded in his head, before taking his hand off the oarfish’s shoulder and attempting to desperately pry the tail off of him. Gordon felt the tail loosen its grip, and heard the metal creak along with a very tired and scared sounding voice of Benrey going, “huh-“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gordon breathed a sigh of relief, as he managed to push and unwrap Benrey’s tail. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wh- what.. ..Gordon?” Benrey yawned, looking around, but apparently not seeing Gordon in his half asleep state. However before Gordon could respond, Benrey interrupted him, sounding a little less tired and more afraid and desperate. “Gordon?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m- im here. I’m right here, Benrey,” Gordon said, cautiously putting his hand back on Benrey’s very tense tail. The oarfish flinched a little, and Gordon pulled back his hand immediately. Gordon turned to face Benrey, who was now looking directly at him, pupils slim. Seeing the slim pupils made Gordon uncomfortable, but he tried his best not to show it. He noticed the pure </span>
  <em>
    <span>fear </span>
  </em>
  <span>in Benrey’s face, as the siren carefully observed him without saying anything, like he wasn’t real, and still trembling</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...you okay, dude?” Gordon asked, not even trying to hide the worry in his voice or on his face anymore. Benrey never looked away from Gordon, wide and scared eyes staring directly at him, only looking away when he would glance very quickly at the water. Benrey glanced at the pool in the water again, and Gordon noticed how he tensed a little when he looked at the water, before he nodded. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m guessing you had a nightmare?” Gordon suggested, capturing the attention of Benrey again. Gordon watched as Benrey’s pupils dilated, growing a little larger. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...maybe… it’s not important, Feetman,” Benrey quietly said, finally relaxing and taking a deep breath. Gordon’s face scrunched in disbelief. Gordon knew that it had to be important, mostly because of just how </span>
  <em>
    <span>terrified </span>
  </em>
  <span>Benrey had seemed seconds before. He wasn’t going to let the oarfish try to dodge this or answer with vague shit like he usually does.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What was it about?” Gordon asked, his voice caring yet stern. The man cautiously and gingerly grabbed the oarfish’s hand, hoping he would understand the gesture of trust and care. The oarfish’s eyes quickly moved to the two intertwined hands, and then to Gordon’s eyes. Gordon noticed how Benrey looked a little surprised. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...you were in it, bro. I can’t ditch you even when I’m asleep,” Benrey said with a very, </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>forced chuckle, before frowning a little and looking down. Gordon watched in silence for a few moments as he heard the near silent hum, and pink and blue lights slowly flowed from Benrey’s mouth. The lights are faint. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...am I really </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>awful?” Gordon attempted to light the mood, smirking a little and carefully watching Benrey’s face for a reaction. Their lips didn’t tug into a slight smile of amusement, their rough apathetic expression didn’t shift in the slightest, and the only movement that was on the siren’s face was the quick glance towards the water from his eyes. Gordon paused for a moment, before tightening his grip on Benrey’s hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What happened in it?” Gordon asked, his voice much less stern and much more worried. Benrey didn’t tear his gaze from the water and only said, “uh.. do you have any… any more of those pain things?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you mean Advil?” Gordon asked, a little irritated by the change of subject, but he didn’t want Benrey to be in pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The oarfish simply responded with a quick nod, not even sparing Gordon a quick glance as his gaze was fixated on the dark water in the middle of the room. Gordon bit back a highly annoyed groan, and pushed himself off the cold metal ground, standing up. The room spun a bit as he did, and Gordon stumbled and held out his arms, trying to regain balance. It took a moment before the dizzy and spiraling feeling faded, and Gordon could clearly make out the spaces of floor in between the spaces taken by Benrey’s massive tail, and he could make his way to the exit of the Vehicle Bay. As the man slowly and sloppily made his way towards the exit, yawning in the process, before stumbling once again, and almost tripping over the crossbow he had tossed away like it was useless trash. Gordon’s face and nose scrunched up in almost disgust, as he kicked it down the hall, watching it slide before hitting the wall and giving him the satisfying feeling that felt similar to kicking a rock down a sidewalk repeatedly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t like that crossbow. Not any longer. What once gave a sense of protection, strength, and security, now made Gordon nauseous with dread and guilt. He knew he did what he had to, and he wasn’t given much of a choice- </span>
  <em>
    <span>hell- </span>
  </em>
  <span>he was just trying to survive. Benrey was, and still is, pretty fucking terrifying. But the second Gordon shot the crossbow and watched the bolt pierce through Benrey’s scales like they were nothing more than a thin piece of paper, and seeing the blood just spill out like that... That was more terrifying than Benrey has ever been. Because </span>
  <em>
    <span>Gordon </span>
  </em>
  <span>did that. He did that. Gordon felt a shiver dance down his spine as he thought about it. Listening to Benrey basically get ripped to shreds by the other sirens wasn’t the most pleasant experience afterwards. They were doing it to protect him, sure, and Gordon would never be able to thank them enough for that, but the amount of bleeding and deep wounds Gordon had to care for made his stomach churn. A familiar sting of pain coming from the empty space that once held his right hand snapped him out of his dreadful thoughts, like someone snapping in the face of a hypnotized man. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He needed some more pain meds too. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon sped up the pace of his walking, and continued to the storage boxes. He still didn’t enjoy being taunted by the phantom pains. He felt like he could still pull his right fingers into a tight fist, but he couldn’t. The storage boxes finally came into view, and the man couldn’t be more relieved. He calmly took off the lid of the storage boxe, grabbing the pill bottle that was laying on the open medical kit that he had tossed on top of the mess in the box. He emptied 4 small pills onto his right arm, before putting the lid back on and putting the bottle back to its original place. ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>Lucky thing,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon thought to himself, sliding the lid back onto the box. He scooped up two pills into the palm of his hand, and swallowed them. Gordon scooped up the remaining two pills, and started back to the Vehicle Dock. This time he made sure to keep his eyes and focus on the two small pills patiently sitting in his hand, so he wouldn’t have to see the crossbow or think about the still lingering pain of his right arm and hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It didn’t take as long to get back to the Vehicle Dock, and Gordon wasn’t surprised to see Benrey still staring at the dark water. Gordon did notice how Benrey shifted in position while he was gone. They had their hands gripped tightly onto the ledge, as they sat up and looked down into the water. Some of their tail was dipped in the water, and the ripples in the water proved that he was slowly swaying his tail. It reminded Gordon of a cat about to pounce on its prey. Gordon didn’t dwell too much on it, but he did find it oddly cute how the siren kept the blanket on their back and partly on their tail. He didn’t waste too much time staring at the oarfish, quickly remembering the two pills waiting in his hand. He walked over to Benrey, silently being grateful that he had some of his tail back in the water so it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>much </span>
  </em>
  <span>less of a challenge to walk and get to where he needed to go. “Here,” Gordon said, holding out his hand so the oarfish could take the pills. Benrey looked at him, pupils still wide, and looked back at the pills. He didn’t hesitate to grab them and stuff them in his mouth, before turning back and looking at the water. Gordon didn’t say anything, exhausted, and walked a small distance away from Benrey, sitting against the wall. He wasn’t going to make the mistake of passing out next to him and nearly getting suffocated by the tail again. And the two sat like that, in complete silence. It wasn’t a good silence. It was tense, heavy, and not to mention awkward. It lasted and lingered for quite some time, as the two waited for the painkillers to kick in, and both staring anxiously at the things that seemed to taunt them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The silence was interrupted by Benrey, who didn’t even bother to rip his eyes away from the water. “So… when’s your cringe shift over, Feetman?” Gordon’s brows furrowed, as he thought about the question. When </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>his shift going to be over? He had almost completely lost track of time, and wasn't even sure which day it was or how long he had left. He wouldn’t be surprised if it wouldn’t end. Gordon glanced at his watch, scowling at it. It only told the time. It didn’t tell him the date. He wanted to just throw his head against the wall and scream until he died, if he was being honest. “I’m… not sure,” Gordon said, his tone confused. He noticed how Benrey’s face twisted in confusion for a moment. It was difficult to see, due to the helmet and the angle Gordon was at, but he could still see it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Huh? Bro- how.. how do you forget?” Benrey asked, his voice sounded like it was mocking Gordon, and the man really wasn’t in the mood for that right now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t fucking know. It’s difficult to keep track of shit when you haven’t seen the fucking sun in a week, and you almost get fucking killed and have to deal with the aftermath! Twice! It’s almost like I’ve been busy and haven’t been able to keep track of the fucking time!” Gordon snapped, grabbing his right wrist. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>needed </span>
  </em>
  <span>to shout right now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...don’t need to be all pissy about it, bro.. it was a mist-“ Benrey started, before getting cut off by a very fed up and angry Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A </span>
  <em>
    <span>MISTAKE </span>
  </em>
  <span>that almost got me KILLED! Almost immeadiatly after I got my fucking hand cut off! What if my shift doesn’t fucking end? I- hell- I fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>punched </span>
  </em>
  <span>a soldier- I fucking assaulted a soldier! I- I… fucking attacked someone. I fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>shot </span>
  </em>
  <span>you..” Gordon stopped for a moment, running his hand through his hair, suddenly terrified. “I.. I’m sure- no- I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know </span>
  </em>
  <span>they saw it. I know they fucking saw it. They’re probably just waiting for me to rot at this point. They’re just going to fucking watch and wait as I run out of food and </span>
  <em>
    <span>water. </span>
  </em>
  <span>And- and I can’t even fucking do </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything </span>
  </em>
  <span>about it. I can’t even call </span>
  <em>
    <span>her </span>
  </em>
  <span>or Joshua. I won’t be able to fucking see Joshua again. I’m just.. probably going to rot in here, and if I even manage to get out or they decide to come get me I’m going to rot in jail,” Gordon continued, voice shaking with panic as he felt a warm trail of tears stroll down his face. “Of course… of course they would choose the fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>nobody </span>
  </em>
  <span>with an ex-wife who doesn’t bother to check on him and no friends. They just… fucking.. sent me down here… knowing I would die and nobody would notice,” Gordon quietly finished, knees brought close to his chest. He didn’t bother to wipe away the tears or look at Benrey. “...sorry… I.. I shouldn’t have snapped at you…” he muttered, hugging his knees and looking at the ground. He didn’t want to see how Benrey reacted to his outburst.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon wasn’t sure what he expected from Benrey, maybe just silence or the siren deciding to leave, but what he got was infinitely better than what he thought. A calming, enchanting voice echoing through the room, and bright and colorful blues and pinks twinkling from the corner of his eyes. Gordon heard the metal of the base creak and groan in protest as the siren moved again, this time dragging their body closer to Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon paused, and took a shaky breath. He wiped his eyes, making sure to get most of the tears off, and sniffled a bit. He looked back up, meeting Benrey’s concerned eyes. He was still singing, still attempting to calm down and soothe Gordon. It was working. Very well. Gordon watched as Benrey slowly and surprisingly carefully reached for Gordon’s hand, but not touching it. His webbed hand hovered over Gordon’s, waiting for Gordon to accept. Gordon hesitated, but slowly moved his hand over to Benrey’s, who gently grabbed and squeezed it, just as Gordon had done for him before. Gordon paused, looking back towards Benrey, who was still softly singing. “Your voice is beautiful,” Gordon laughed, eyes tinted red from the tears and sniffled again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey offered a gentle smile- well it was more close to a smirk, but it definitely aided in comforting Gordon, along with the enchanting voice and beautiful orbs. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s cool, Gordon,” Benrey said softly, his voice just as soothing as it was while he was singing. “...thanks for… everything,” the oarfish added, before going back to singing. Gordon leaned back against the wall of the base, relaxing and letting the siren’s voice drown out his worries. Gordon watched as the beautiful glowing balls of light flowed smoothly in the air, reminding him of a strange mix of bubbles and smoke, and watched as they slowly faded and broke apart into nothing. Until Benrey stopped his singing to say something, squeezing his hand a little tighter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...are you sure you can’t go back, bro?” </span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. How now, big brown cow?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“...are you sure you can’t go back, bro?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon blinked at the question. The sudden question catching the man off guard since his attention was entirely on the floating orbs illuminating the room. Gordon’s brows furrowed once more, as he thought about the question. He wasn’t entirely certain what the consequences of his actions were going to be, but what Gordon was certain about was how he wasn’t going to get just a slap on the wrist. Black Mesa wasn’t kind to those who stepped out of line, and Gordon was aware of that from the moment he joined the science team. Gordon paused, before nodding, and looking back at the dimming light of the orbs. “Yeah… I think so, dude.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon watched as the ball slowly disappeared into the air, noticing how Benrey didn’t say anything or even went back to singing. It was a noticeable, awkward silence. Gordon shifted anxiously, the tension in the room growing thick once more. Until, Gordon looked at the silent oarfish, who appeared to be in thought. Their brows were furrowed, and they stared at the ground. “...you… you don’t have to rot here, bro,” Benrey said, looking up at Gordon, who’s expression formed into one of pure confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well I can’t just- walk on out of here! I can’t swim to get to the surface- there’s no way I can get out of here!” Gordon said, running his hand through his hair. He was frustrated, but mostly afraid. The thought that he couldn’t see his son again was fucking terrifying to him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...you can become one of us, bro,” Benrey said, scratching the back of his neck anxiously. Gordon paused for a moment, letting the sentence set in, before chuckling. “I’d- I’d REALLY appreciate it if you didn’t joke ab-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not a joke, Feetman,” Benrey interrupted the stressed and almost hysteric Gordon, who stared at him in a mix of disbelief and confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You… you mean become a fucking siren?” Gordon asked, gesturing wildly with his arm. It was fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>impossible. </span>
  </em>
  <span>But Benrey nodded. “Uhh…hold on.. Darnold knows more, I’ll be right back, bro,” Benrey said, and shifted to where he was facing the water again, and looked like he was about to jump in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But he didn’t. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He just stared at the water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...can you swim okay?” Gordon asked, pushing back the ridiculous statement he had heard moments before because he genuinely wasn’t sure if Benrey could swim or not. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh.. yeah. Just.. just nervous. Heh..” Benrey forced a weak chuckle, before nervously looking back at the water. He didn’t want to go in. The rest of the school still lingered around in the area. He could tell, it’s what they always did. They would stick to one area that was large enough for everyone to keep to themselves but small enough so that the leviathans could see whenever there was any trouble or danger. Benrey narrowed his eyes at his reflection, feeling a little disgust. As a leviathan, he really failed, didn’t he? He had one job: to protect the school no matter what. He always thought he was good at it, but… he </span>
  <em>
    <span>bit </span>
  </em>
  <span>Bubby, nearly strangled and crushed Darnold, and possibly hurt Coomer. He did more damage than providing defense and security. He failed at being a leviathan, and he knew G-Man wouldn’t take a failure, as the better leviathan. He wasn’t stronger than Benrey, and they often fought, but… he was better at his job. Also Benrey had a shit ton of wounds littered around his body and tail. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...you’re afraid of them aren’t you?” Gordon asked, breaking the tense silence. Benrey paused, glaring at his reflection once more. He wasn’t afraid of his school. It was the colossal squid he was terrified of. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...no,” Benrey muttered, as he moved his hands and gripped the ledge of the Vehicle Dock, getting ready to jump in. He didn’t have to look at Gordon to tell the man was about to say something else, so Benrey pushed off the ledge and dove into the water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The siren failed to suppress a shout of pain when he dove into the water, the sudden change of pressure added with the harsh collision of his wounds hitting the water wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world. Every wound screamed in protest, sending so much pain throughout his body, despite the painkillers. The agonizing burning of his wounds didn’t last too long, and quickly calmed down, but it still lingered a little. He clenched his teeth a little, hissing in pain. He hated this, but he didn’t have too much time to just writhe around in pain. So, pushing past the stinging pain of his wounds begging to rest and heal, he started to swim and look around, desperately for the blue-ringed octopus.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He rubbed his eyes more than a few times, since they refused to readjust to the dark water. He mostly skimmed around the areas he knew his friend stayed at the most, looking mostly for a slight blue glow. He felt like he was swimming so much slower than he normally was, and he hated it. It was so much more tiring, and the sudden spikes of pain whenever he moved his tail or accidentally rubbed it against a rock did not help. It didn’t take long for him to run into a familiar face, however it wasn’t Darnold’s.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck are you doing?” He heard Bubby growl, and Benrey wanted nothing more than to bash his head into the nearest rock at it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Looking for Darnold,” Benrey growled in response, eyeing the viperfish, who’s usual annoyed and irritated expression didn’t change at the answer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why?” Bubby asked again, swimming a little closer to the oarfish. Benrey could tell Bubby wasn’t in the best mood and wasn’t too happy with him. The sour tone of his voice and the way his fins were a little more spread out than normal proved that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...none of your business, bro,” Benrey hissed, before attempting to slowly turn around and leave so he could go back to looking for Darnold. Bubby quickly made sure he couldn’t do that, by swimming in front of the oarfish. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think it </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>my buisness, since you decided to try and fucking kill Gordon not too long ago!” Bubby shouted, aggressively pointing at Benrey. The leviathan narrowed his eyes, scowling at the viperfish angrily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just- just fucking let me FIND Darnold, b-“ Benrey cut himself off with a sharp inhale, caused by the sudden spike of pain as he accidentally slammed his tail into a nearby rockside. Bubby didn’t seem too affected by Benrey in pain, and raised an eyebrow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You almost fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>crushed </span>
  </em>
  <span>him. WHY the fuck do you want to see him?” Bubby pressed, pulling his lips back a little to show off his many, </span>
  <em>
    <span>many </span>
  </em>
  <span>and viscously sharp teeth that had previously torn a chunk off of Benrey’s tail. Benrey tensed seeing those teeth, and anxiously looked around, before giving in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I fuckin,, had an idea,, that feetman that everyone would like, bro.. wanted to talk to Dar’ about it,, fuckin cringe nerd knows more than me,,” Benrey quietly muttered, voice barely above a whisper. He turned his head to look away from Bubby, at this point not even caring that the gills on his neck were easily exposed from the motion. He didn’t want to see Bubby’s bared teeth anymore, everytime he looked at them he could feel the bite again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...hm. I saw him swim over there. If you fucking try anything I’ll get G-man,” Bubby said, before turning around and swimming away. Benrey paused, a little surprised that Bubby didn’t continue to press. Whatever. He didn’t have time to dwell on that, he didn’t want to keep Gordon waiting. So he quickly went in the direction that Bubby pointed, looking around for a blue glow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And eventually he saw a very, very faint blue glow amidst the darkness, and Benrey swam over as quickly as he could, not caring how much it aggravated his wounds. In just a few seconds, the glow got brighter and bigger as Darnold came into view who was leaning against a large rock, jumping a little when he saw Benrey.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah! Hey-“ Darnold stuttered, eyes anxiously darting around before settling on Benrey’s.. surprisingly lifeful eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yo, Darnold- i got this- I got this GREAT idea- very good- is gonna be very good- but I dunno how to do it.. BUT I know you know how to- so I looked for you- took me a bit- since shit hurts right now- shit really hurts right now, it slows things down.. but- but bro, Gordon is like- super fuckin- sad, he’s got the big sad, he’s got a.. a big ol’ frown and shit.. he thinks black Mesa leaving him to rot, they just.. fuckin left him like that. Like- how the FUCK would be stupid enough to leave Gordon- what could you gain from that- hes- he’s so fuckin good and nice.. why would you throw him off, he’s great.. nothing to gain only things to uh.. to uh lose- and.. uhhhh… fuck.. what was I talking about, uh.. OH- the- the- the fuckin,, idea!” Benrey rambled on, for quite a while actually, while Darnold nervously watched and listened. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...you never explained the idea, Benrey,” Darnold pointed out, before turning to the side, and reaching into a small crevice that was in the rock he was leaning on, fishing around in the crevice for a few seconds, before taking out a small shrimp. It writhed in Darnold’s hand, before the blue ringed octopus bit onto it and ripped off its tail. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...why are there shrimp in there,” Benrey asked, completely forgetting about the idea already, completely fixated on the now-dead shrimp in Darnold’s hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I put dead fish in there. They love it,” Darnold explained, before stuffing the rest of the shrimp in his mouth and quickly eating it. He reached into the crevice again, this time pulling out two more squirming small shrimp. “Want one?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey excitedly nodded, reaching to grab one of the shrimps, when Darnold flinched back a little bit. Benrey stared for a moment, confused, before Darnold quickly dropped the shrimp in Benrey’s hand and pulled it back. Benrey blinked, confused, before realizing. “...I’m not gonna hurt you, bro. That’s like… the opposite of my job,” Benrey said as he poked at the tiny shrimp. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know… but.. you did,” Darnold quietly said, before biting off the head of the shrimp. Benrey was quiet, and it felt like the tension was just as thick and heavy as the water was down there. Neither of them knew what to say after that, until Darnold was fed up with the awkward tension. “So what was your idea?” The octopus immediately noticed how the leviathan perked up a little at the question. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..we have Feetman become one of us?” Benrey said with a slight shrug, before biting the shrimp and eating it whole. Darnold didn’t say anything, brows furrowed, as he thought about it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...you sure? Also you were trying to… kill Gordon not too long ago. Why the hell do you want him with us?” Darnold asked, looking away from Gordon and reaching back into the crevice. “And.. I don’t know what the surface is like, but Gordon probably has a school of his own. They might be waiting for him,” Darnold explained as he took out another shrimp, and passed it to Benrey who didn’t hesitate to take it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mm… G-man.. and Feetman said something about fuckin.. ‘Black Mesa’ leaving him to rot. Something about how he can’t go back, bro,” Benrey explained as he played with the shrimp on his hands, mostly by petting and poking it. Darnold paused for a moment, in thought again, before he reached back into the crevice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah.. so he has nothing?” Darnold asked, just to make sure, as he pulled out another shrimp. He ripped off the tail as he listened to Benrey’s answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...think so. that’s what the cringe man said,” The oarfish continued to play with the shrimp a little more, before biting on it and sucking it in his mouth, similar to how a person would do the same with noodles. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” Darnold shrugged, a soft smile on his face. “I‘ll admit that I enjoy Mr. Freeman quite a lot, and I </span>
  <em>
    <span>may </span>
  </em>
  <span>have been thinking the same thing a few days ago. I’ll go get everyone, and hopefully Tommy can get G-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“NO-“ Benrey shouted, voice a mix of rage and desperation. Darnold flinched back again, eyes wide with shock at the sudden anger from his “friend”. Benrey seemed to realize this, and tried his best to calm down. “No… G’ can’t know.. he’s fuckin uh.. stupid.. stupid fucking stubborn.. too,” Benrey growled, his tone much softer than it was moments before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Benrey… he can’t just… </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>know about this. It won’t work.” Darnold tried to explain, tense and uncomfortable, his body pressing against the rock a little.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...We’ll figure it out… just… get everyone </span>
  <em>
    <span>but </span>
  </em>
  <span>that stupid fuckin.. squid.. hate him..” Benrey grumbled and crossed his arms. Darnold stared at him, before mumbling out an uncertain “okay” and waving goodbye, before swimming off to find everyone. Once Darnold swam off, leaving Benrey alone, the oarfish breathed a sigh of relief, watching the bubbles float off and disappear into the darkness. G-Man couldn’t know about this. Benrey can't risk him getting that close to Gordon for something like this. So, Benrey began to swim back towards the large underwater base, which he could barely see in the distance. It was almost completely hidden in the darkness. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I genuinely have no idea how I feel about this chapter I don’t like to too much tho</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. The bow or the bough? The spade or the plough for you?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Benrey grabbed onto the ledge of the Vehicle Dock and hauled his body onto the base, tuning out the irritating creaks of base protesting his weight. Once Benrey got onto the base, he didn’t hesitate to grab the blanket he pulled himself next to, and wrap it around himself again. He liked the large piece of fabric quite a lot, and he couldn’t help but sway his tail a little in the water as he got comfortable. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...I thought you said you were getting Darnold?” Benrey's warm moment of comfort got cut off by Gordon's voice, which he honestly didn’t mind. “...and I did, Feetman. Be patient… fucking, jerk.. cringe octopus is getting the others.. wait,” Benrey grumbled in response, pulling the blanket tighter on himself as he gave a smug smile to Gordon. The man rolled his eyes, and crossed his arms, his irritated gaze moving from the oarfish to the ground. Benrey pouted at that, a little frustrated the man couldn’t take a joke. Usually Gordon was funnier, more relaxed, and so much nicer to be around. Benrey opened his mouth to say something along the lines “what’s your problem, bro?” before he clamped his mouth shut, the memory of Gordon’s meltdown crashing back hard on Benrey. The oarfish’s frustration quickly bended to worry, as he carefully examined Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The man looked exhausted, and the oarfish wasn’t sure if it was emotionally or physically exhausted. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was both. Heavy bags laid under his unsure and twitchy eyes that appeared to be having a staring contest with the floor. His usually messy hair was more messy than usual, the small rat’s tail it was pulled into was now a rat’s nest of greasy unkept hair. His skin was slightly paler than normal too, which wasn’t too surprising considering the fact he was currently missing his fucking hand. The longer he looked at Gordon, the more worry built up, and the familiar fluttery feeling came back in his stomach. Even when the man was a fucking mess, Benrey still found great joy in just looking at him. But Gordon didn’t need Benrey’s constant gaze right now, and even Benrey could see that. He needed comfort, and… this time Benrey didn’t want to rely on his voice. It worked well, hell- it worked </span>
  <em>
    <span>perfectly. </span>
  </em>
  <span>But Gordon was human, and he didn’t need a siren’s quick excuse for comfort. He needed something more, and while Benrey didn’t like putting in extra effort…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon was an exception. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was an exception for so many reasons, which was why Benrey started to cautiously get closer to the man, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach that only intensified as he slowly crept closer. He half expected a reaction from Gordon, since he was pretty damn loud with the base screaming like a baby bird when the mother comes back with food due to his weight, but Gordon didn’t even glance at him for a moment. Benrey’s face of worry twisted into a frown, as he pulled himself right next to Gordon, who was anxiously tapping his watch. Benrey ignored that, and pushed himself up to where he was sitting similar to Gordon, back leaning against the wall in a casual manner. Then, he took off the blanket, and held it in front of Gordon. He watched as his crush’s empty eyes drifted from the metal floor to the blanket in the leviathan’s hand. Gordon’s anxious and close to emotionless face (Benrey didn’t like it when Gordon didn’t show too much emotion, since the man was normally very expressive) shifted into one as confusion, and he </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally </span>
  </em>
  <span>turned his head to face the oarfish. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...take it, dumbass,” Benrey muttered, pushing the blanket a little closer to Gordon, who stared at it, perplexed, before hesitantly taking it. “...thanks?” Gordon said, his voice still mostly devoid of emotion aside from the slight confusion. Benrey watched closely as Gordon slowly covered himself up with the blanket. Benrey hoped that it would work, that Gordon would just </span>
  <em>
    <span>cheer </span>
  </em>
  <span>up since he has his blanket back but… he kept the depressed and lifeless look. It didn’t do anything. Benrey frowned again, and looked away from Gordon, and back towards the water. He narrowed his eyes a little. He wondered what was taking so damn long. Benrey shifted a little, struggling to think of what to do next. He felt much colder and less comfortable without the blanket and hated it, but… it was worth it if it would help Gordon hopefully feel better. Benrey stayed quiet as he thought of what to do next, and his eyes drifted to Gordon’s hand. At the sight of the fingers still nervously tapping the watch, Benrey curled in his own into a tense fist. He wondered if Gordon would be okay with physical contact...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And not giving the idea a second thought, he reached over to Gordon’s hand, and quickly intertwined his fingers that were still wet from the swim, with Gordon’s more thick and soft ones. Gordon looked over at Benrey again, expression still mostly emotionless but instead of confusion there was an expression that… Benrey couldn’t really read. He couldn’t tell if it was confusion, surprise, fear, or something else. It was odd, but he didn’t get too much time to dwell on it once he got distracted by the feeling of Gordon’s fingers’ tightening around his own, and as the man shifted, leaning against Benrey’s shoulder. It wasn’t the most comfortable, since the harsh and sharp material of the diving suit Gordon was still wearing dug into Benrey’s bare shoulder, but Benrey didn’t mind. He didn’t need a mirror to tell that his pupils were large and wide right now, as the intense beating of his heart and the feeling in his stomach made it obvious to the siren, as he stared at Gordon, who had shut their eyes and leaned into Benrey’s touch. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey wasn’t able to stop the slight hum that escaped his lips, along with the orbs that slowly flew from his mouth almost like a smoke, that started from a bright glowing pink and faded to a dark blue. Benrey tensed a little and immediately went to cover his mouth, which stopped the light orbs, and built up a warm uncomfortable feeling in his mouth. He felt Gordon shift a little at Benrey’s suddenly movement, and looking down at the once-comfortable man Benrey saw that he had opened his eyes a little, observing the lights. Well, there went not using the voice to comfort the man. Gordon leaned against him a little more, tightly yet gently holding Benrey’s scaled hand. “What does pink and blue mean?” Gordon asked, genuine curiosity replacing the once dry and emotionless voice that was there before. Benrey paused for a moment, thinking about what to say.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Pink to Blue means I like you.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey anxiously bit down on his lip, and looked back down towards Gordon. He was doing </span>
  <em>
    <span>so well </span>
  </em>
  <span>at keeping him comfortable and more calm, and he didn’t want to mess it up. So, with a very faint unsure tone in his voice, Benrey answered with, “Pink to blue means.. it means that I care ‘bout you.” Benrey anxiously awaited Gordon’s response to this, feeling as Gordon shifted some more, worming his way under Benrey’s arm and against his chest, still keeping his eyes on the now-fading orbs. “...thank you…” Gordon quietly said, but unlike how he said it before it wasn’t confused or apathetic, it was genuine. Benrey smiled a little, and wrapped his arm around Gordon tightly, in a half hug. Gordon made a noise of protest along with a surprised, “benrey- you’re crushing me-“ and Benrey didn’t hesitate to loosen the hold on Gordon, just keeping one arm loosely wrapped around the human and the other holding his hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was nice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The nice moment with Gordon didn’t last too long, until Darnold popped up from the Vehicle Dock, climbing one of the ladders on the side of the pool and saying quick “Greetings, Gordon!” It didn’t take him long at all to get to the spot where he usually sits, and soon enough, Bubby, Coomer, and Tommy quickly followed behind him and all got in their usual spots. “Hello, Gordon!” Coomer chimed in gleefully, crossing his arms as he sat on the ground, Bubby leaning against him only offering a lazy wave. “Hey, Mr. Freeman! How are you doing?” Tommy also greeted, settling in at his spot next to Darnold, tentacles gently wrapping around the ladder. Gordon shrugged, and surprisingly didn’t move from where he was. He was still leaning onto Benrey, under his arm, and holding his hand. And thankfully, nobody decided to comment on it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So Benrey,” Darnold started, turning to the leviathan. Benrey looked up, face devoid of any emotion unlike just a few moments ago. “Do you want to say your idea, or would you prefer it if I do it?” He continued, tilting his head a little bit. Without missing a beat, Benrey immediately said, “Feetman should become one of us.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nobody said anything for a moment, and only an uncomfortable silence filled the room, until Bubby shouted out, “How will we get soda?” And receiving a quick jab in the arm from Coomer. “Ow-“ Bubby hissed, rubbing the part where Coomer had hit. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...Don’t humans have schools?” Tommy asked, anxiously drumming the floor of the base with his fingers. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh… yeah? We kind of leave them after a while? After you… learn everything,” Gordon mumbled, a confused look on his face. He had no idea what schools had to do with anything about this, and he still had no idea how they were going to even turn him into one of </span>
  <em>
    <span>them. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That is not a smart decision, Gordon!” Coomer cried out, an expression on his face that could only be described as a disappointed grandfather. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dumbass,” Bubby muttered, poorly hiding a face of pity. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?! School fucking sucks, I didn’t even know you had that shit!” Gordon shouted, sitting up and getting off of Benrey (much to the siren’s disappointment).</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Schools are safe, Mr. Freeman! ’Safe- Safety in numbers,’ is what my dad says!” Tommy said, and the realization hit Gordon like a truck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh- oh. You mean schools as in </span>
  <em>
    <span>groups,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” He said, anxiously rubbing the back of his neck. “That makes… a lot more sense.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then what the fuck were you talking about?” Bubby asked, shifting to where he was laying his head on Coomer’s crossed mantis arms, with the human hands playing with what little hair the viper fish had left. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh.. it isn’t important. But.. we do leave our.. uh- ‘schools’ temporarily. Everybody does. We usually just stick with our parents and siblings, leave after we’re ready, then most of the time build a new ‘school’. But.. mine.. didn’t go well.” Gordon tried his best to explain, struggling a lot. He hoped he got the point across well enough, but the confused looks of the sirens told him he failed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That sounds awful, Mr. Freeman!” Tommy quietly said, a sad look on his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How the actual fuck do you humans live like that?” Bubby asked, not bothering to glance at Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have to agree with Tommy, Gordon. That does indeed sound quite awful!” Coomer chimed in, a look of pity drawn on his face clearly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...My.. apologies for you, Gordon,” Darnold said, a soft smile on his face and a soothing tone in his voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...we can be your new school.. it… won’t fail.. it’ll be stable.. bro..,” Benrey mumbled, anxiously fiddling with his thumbs since he wasn’t holding Gordon’s hand anymore. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon paused for a moment. That… did sound nice. He would be able to live, which sounded a lot better than drowning or starving to death right now, he’d be surrounded by people who care for him, he wouldn’t have to deal with the responsibilities of being an adult, but… </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wouldn’t be able to see Joshua again, would he?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But did he have much of a choice… because it felt like anything else ended in death. Gordon took a deep breath, before speaking again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That… sounds nice. I- I think I wouldn’t mind joining your school,” Gordon said, voice unsure. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure, Gordon. It’s… it’s pretty permanent. I don’t think you’ll be able to ever go back,” Darnold explained. Gordon paused again, very grateful for the silence in the room. His eyes drifted to his hand, the bloody stitched up stump of a hand. What options did he have? Black Mesa was most likely going to leave him to rot, and if that happened he would probably just end up dying of starvation once the food he brought ran out. And on the slim chance they come get him, he’s most likely just going to get arrested and he didn’t want Joshua to think his father was a horrible person. Even… even if he was. Gordon made up his mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If everyone is fine with it, I’m.. im pretty damn certain,” Gordon stated, looking back up at Benrey, who’s pupils were of course wide as always. Gordon smiled at him. He couldn’t thank him enough for suggesting the idea. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’d love that!!” Tommy cheered, flapping his hands up and down and his tentacles moving around very quickly as he got very excited.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That sounds like a wonderful idea!” Coomer happily said, before looking at Bubby, who responded with a, “It… does sound quite nice, but you owe me soda.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I already told this to Benrey, but… I had thought of the idea before. You’ll love it with us, Gordon,” Darnold cheerfully said, before looking at Benrey. Benrey looked back, knowing exactly what it meant. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So… what do we do for this?” Gordon asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh! Well- first.. we need something to hold the ingredients in!” Darnold happily said, and before he could suggest anything, Tommy shouted, “The thing!! When you brought in things you had another thing carrying them!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...the shitty bag?” Gordon asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“YES!” Tommy happily shouted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’d work quite well,” Darnold responded with. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll go get it,” Gordon started getting up, and made his way to the exit of the vehicle dock. He couldn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>believe </span>
  </em>
  <span>he was doing this. He was just… throwing his life away to live with these sirens. It reminded him of the many stories he told Joshua and movies he showed the kid. Gordon frowned a little as he thought about him. He didn’t want to leave Joshua for good. He deserved a mother and a father, but… he failed at being a father. Hopefully Joshua could find a better father figure, he’s a good kid. And he needs one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once Gordon disappeared from the Vehicle Dock, Darnold crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Benrey. “So… what the hell are we going to do about G-Man? </span>
  <em>
    <span>One </span>
  </em>
  <span>leviathan won’t work, we’ll need </span>
  <em>
    <span>two </span>
  </em>
  <span>voices,” the octopus said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...wha?” Benrey asked, trying to play dumb to hopefully dodge the question. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait- is- is.. is that why I couldn’t get my dad? I thought he was busy..” Tommy whined, lowering his head a little bit. He never understood why everyone was so weird towards his dad, especially Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now that I fucking think of it, he should be here! He won’t fucking react well to a new siren in the group! Hell- he hasn’t even met Gordon!” Bubby growled at Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We need everybody to agree on this, Benrey. Just because you are a leviathan doesn’t mean you can speak for G-man,” Coomer obstructed, his tone surprisingly not annoyed or angry or anything. It sounded more like a teacher or instructor than anything. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..don’t trust him.. especially not with Feetman,” Benrey finally grumbled, looking at the ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Benrey, </span>
  </em>
  <span>that’s not how this works!” Darnold cried out, starting to get frustrated. “Hell- we barely even trust you right now! </span>
  <em>
    <span>Especially </span>
  </em>
  <span>with Gordon.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My dad doesn’t like getting left out of stuff like this… he- he needs to know..” Tommy quietly said, starting to get anxious and even a little afraid.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just- just do the potion thing.. the potion without him! Skip him! I’ll do double of my things, bro.” Benrey suggested.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s not how this </span>
  <em>
    <span>works! </span>
  </em>
  <span>We don’t know what will happen if we just skip over his ingredients! It could ki-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s going on?” Gordon interrupted, walking back into the Vehicle Dock, completely ignorant of what everybody was shouting about. Everyone looked like deers caught in headlights, eyes wide and Gordon could feel the tension in the room. He didn’t like it, but he still didn’t want to back out on this. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Arguing over ingredients! My apologies, Gordon, I could’ve sworn I remembered it differently, but Darnold is the expert here,” Coomer was quick to lie, with a surprisingly good one to. Gordon raised a brow, and looked at everyone in the room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s a dumbass, but he’s my dumbass,” Bubby grumbled, shaking his head to add onto the lie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...so did you reach an agreement?” Gordon asked, walking over to Darnold and handing the bag over to the siren, who quickly took it. “Thanks, and yes we have. Sorry about that,” Darnold “explained”. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okayyy…” Gordon said, voice unsure and suspicious. He walked over to Benrey, and sat back next to the oarfish leviathan again. “So what’s next?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, this is relatively simple! Just- uh.. oh- right! One scale for </span>
  <em>
    <span>every </span>
  </em>
  <span>member of the current school and something human from you!” Darnold said, not hesitating to start scratching at one of his tentacles, until he got his claws under a scale and plucked it off. Similar to how a bird takes out a feather. Huh. The blue ringed octopus dropped the glowing blue scale in the bag. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait- what do you mean something human? I already lost my hand,” Gordon said, anxiously messing with his watch as he saw the other sirens start doing what Darnold just did. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hair. Just.. take some of your fucking hair bro..” Benrey commented, hissing in pain once he took off his scale and tossing it over to Darnold, who caught it and dropped it in the bag. Tommy gently dropped his scale into the bag, since he was right next to the octopus. “Oh…” Gordon said, mentally facepalming at his stupidity. Gordon carefully found a single strand of hair, and winced as he took it out. “Done,” Gordon said, leaning over as far as he could and handing the strand to Tommy, who dropped it in the bag.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here you go, Darnold!” Coomer cheerfully replied, handing the octopus one beautifully colored green scale and a dark brown one, which Gordon assumed was Bubby’s.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Darnold said, grabbing the scales and dropping them into the bag as well. “Okay, so next I think we should kind of split up and get ourselves. We need some shells, some water from a brine pool, and red algae.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That… doesn’t sound too bad, really,” Bubby commented, and Darnold responded with a nod.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s really not, but here’s what I was thinking: Tommy and I will go get the red algae, Coomer and Bubby you two can go get the shells and we’ll need a lot, and Benrey can go get the water from the brine pool.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh FUCK that!” Gordon shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “You can’t just- get brine pool water. They’re fucking- they’re barely even water and most shit that tries to swim in them DIES,” Gordon argued. He really didn’t find it fair to throw Benrey, the one who was most injured into the most dangerous one. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...well if you know so much about brine pools why don’t you just go with him?” Bubby mocked, earning a glare from the oarfish. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I might as well,” Gordon said, getting up and grabbing the soda can he was drinking earlier. It was empty now. Perfect. “Where’s my helmet-“ he asked, looking around as he struggled to find where he tossed it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...oh you’re serious.” Bubby said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You… think I would’ve been taught a warning for the brine pools. Huh,” Darnold said, before setting the bag on the floor of the Vehicle Dock. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Found it!” Gordon shouted, when he found the helmet, and didn’t hesitate to put it on, hearing the click and starting up sound of the suit once it was on.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Perfect. Everybody ready?”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. But where will we go</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Everybody ready?” Darnold asked, his voice now slightly muffled due to the effect of the helmet. Gordon gave a thumbs up, not being able to talk under the helmet (well he technically could, but he doubted he would be heard). He heard a few muffled “Yep!”s and looked around to see the others nodding. Gordon then heard splashing as Bubby and Coomer dived in, followed by Tommy, who shouted “Bye, Mr. Freeman!”. Darnold hadn’t left yet, and Gordon could see from the corner of his eye, Benrey lowering himself to the ledge and getting ready to go in. “I’ll see you in a bit, Gordon. Be careful,” Darnold paused, and looked at the nervous Benrey. He frowned and added a soft yet warm, “you too, Benrey. Be careful, alright?” Gordon noticed that Benrey’s head and attention immeadiatly snapped towards the octopus, surprised, and before either of them could say anything, Darnold quickly dove into the water to join the others. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon looked at Benrey, who muttered a quiet, “alright, </span>
  <em>
    <span>feet</span>
  </em>
  <span>man. let’s.. get some brine.. it’s brine time.” Gordon laughed at that, unsure if Benrey could hear it or not, but it felt good to laugh after everything that happened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where the fuck do we find shells?” Bubby asked while swimming next to Coomer, who seemed a little on edge. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We should find a flat surface and look around, Bubby,” Coomer suggested, his head looking around as he looked for the ground. One con to living in the deep ocean, was that it was almost like an endless void. It could be pretty difficult to find your way around too, since most things looked the same. Bubby silently nodded, swimming underneath Coomer and squinted as he tried to spot a surface of some sort. He failed, and turned and swam back next to his partner. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Look Bubby!” Coomer shouted, getting the attention of the viperfish faster than any click and fizz of a soda can could. “Isopods!” The mantis shrimp happily pointed at a few large isopods scuttling along the side of what appeared to be a sloped cliff. Both sneer and competitive smirks appeared on the two elder siren’s faces, as they side-eyed each other. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Race?” The viperfish’s tongue stuck out from in between his many sharp and jagged teeth that could tear through just about anything. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wonderful idea, Bubby,” The mantis shrimp put on a fake cheerful tone, but the viperfish knew him all too well and could sense the competitive tone underneath it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let’s go!~” Bubby sung, not hesitating to thrust his tail down to get a quick head start. Bubby quickly made it to the isopod group, and didn’t bother to look behind him, knowing the mantis shrimp’s skills in their races. The isopods started to scatter away, and the viperfish reached for one, groaning in frustration as the tip of his claws grazed the shell of one. Before he could thrust himself forward, he saw Coomer dive in, sliding against the ground a little as he was right next to an isopod. Bubby wouldn’t give up, and saw one of them skittering closer to him due to the mantis shrimp’s impact. Cackling like a witch, Bubby quickly snatched it from the ground and flipped it upside down, watching the legs twitch and move wildly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then he heard a loud </span>
  <em>
    <span>CRACK</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and the isopod in the corner of his eye in front of Coomer was suddenly in half. To the blind eye, it may have appeared nothing happened, but Bubby knew. The mantis shrimp had split the isopod in half with ease with the large second pair of arms that were made for punching at such a great speed that it looked like they hadn't even moved. “Looks like I win again, my good bitch,” The mantis shrimp teased, as he scooped up the two halves of the now deceased isopod in his human arms. Bubby pouted, claws starting to scratch at the writhing isopod’s harsh shell as the grip of the viperfish tightened. Bubby opened his mouth, the sharp teeth almost shining, and he quickly started to rip out a chunk of the isopod’s easier to eat underbelly, with such ferocity that he looked like a rabid animal. Coomer smiled, and started to do the same. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It didn’t take long at all for the two to drop the almost empty shells on the ground, wiping their mouths of isopod blood and bits. “It’s always good to share some private time with you,” Coomer said, offering a very relaxed smile towards the viperfish, who returned it, their teeth slighting poking out from their top lip. Bubby swam a little closer, gently taking Coomer’s  human hands. “And the moments are very appreciated,” Bubby snickered, feeling the slight tug of the mantis arms wrapping around his back, pulling him into a hug. Closing his eyes, Bubby pressed his forehead against Coomer’s, who leaned into it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We should probably get looking for those shells,” Coomer laughed, closing his eyes as well as he hugged Bubby a little tighter, appreciating the moment. “Yeah we should,” Bubby said. Despite what they had both just said, neither moved for quite a while. It was silent, but a very good kind of silent. They sat there for a while, hugging until Bubby squeezed Coomer’s hands, and pushed his lips against the mantis shrimp’s, then quickly pulled away. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh! A kiss for me?” Coomer laughed, before letting go of Bubby. His face had a very soft crimson tint to go with his bright smile, that was almost as colorful as his body. “Yep. And you’ll get another once we find these fucking shells.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why are you.. you’re so fucking slow, bro..” Benrey whined as he stopped and waited for Gordon. “..why do you SWIM like that.. bro..” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t answer, since he couldn’t. He could just listen to Benrey complaining as he looked carefully for brine pools, which was EXTREMELY difficult since he couldn’t see 5 feet in front of him. He kicked his legs a little faster, trying to catch up with the giant oarfish, who </span>
  <em>
    <span>despite being injured </span>
  </em>
  <span>was going so much faster than he was. It was a little annoying, but Gordon also had to struggle to use his arms to go faster which was stupidly difficult with one hand holding a soda can and the other hand gone. Benrey seemed to notice his silence, and slowed down a little, eyes quickly scanning the area before looking back at Gordon. “...bro why are you so quiet?” The oarfish asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon pointed at his helmet, without looking at Benrey. Even though his gaze was focused on the dark void surrounding him, he could still feel Benrey’s stare at him. “...wha?” Benrey asked, obviously still confused. Gordon honestly had no clue how he could explain it any further, so he didn’t attempt a conversation. An uncomfortable silence fell on the two, the only sounding Gordon was able to hear were the bubbles coming from his helmet and floating up, and the hissing from the oxygen tanks. He wondered how much oxygen they had in them. Then he quickly realized he didn’t want to think about that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oooh wha’s that?” Benrey said, grabbing Gordon’s right arm and without warning, dragging him down deeper into the ocean. “Mmnf!” Gordon cried out, only making a hard-to-decipher muffle due to the helmet. He tried pulling his arm away from the siren, kicking away and too many panicked thoughts going through his mind as the familiar tight grip of his wrist flooded him with the memories. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...stop freaking out, bro.. check this shit out,” Benrey said, letting go of Gordon. Gordon opened his eyes, which he didn’t even realize he had closed (you couldn’t tell the difference between the deep sea and closed eyes), and didn’t hesitate to swim a short distance away from Benrey, a new sound added to the bubbles and hissing: heavy fearful breathing. The first thing he noticed was Benrey, who’s pupils were very wide and an apathetic face with a slight expression of concern. Gordon looked down, and saw a very large and dim bright blue lake, with many small puddles scattered around and mollusks gathered around the edge like flies to a corpse. Brine pools. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m gonna touch ‘em,” Benrey smirked, reaching over to touch it, and Gordon didn’t hesitate to kick the siren’s tail. “MNNMPPH-“ Gordon screamed, desperately trying to warn Benrey about the pools. Benrey immediately retracted his arm, and hissed loudly in pain, cringing, and curling his tail a little closer to him. Gordon looked where he kicked, and if his face was visibly through the helmet he was sure Benrey would see the immediate regret. He kicked right where one of the bandaged gashes were.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..the fuck bro..” Benrey muttered, voice strained as he failed at hiding the pain. “..what’s your problem..” Gordon wanted to apologize, but knew he couldn’t. He didn’t know how much oxygen he had left, and honestly he didn’t want to find out. So, he gestured to the brine pools, then to the can. Benrey’s eyes widened a little and he let out a quiet “oh”. Gordon swam closer to the brine pool, doing his best to keep a safe distance while still being in reach of the dangerous pools. He took the soda can, and tried to get some of the dangerously salty water, and… The water rippled and made small waves as it rejected the soda can, the can not submerging at all. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...huh?” Benrey asked, observing how the soda can failed to go into the pool. He swam much too close for Gordon’s comfort, and reached towards the can, putting his hand over Gordon’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>much </span>
  </em>
  <span>more gently now, and said “..gonna push. Prepare, Feetman,” and started to push the soda can a little harder, trying to get it to submerge under the brine pool. Gordon carefully moved his fingers farther away from the surface of the pool, and started to push harder as well. The two continued to add more weight and pressure to the can, struggling a lot to get the stupid fucking can into it, before it </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally </span>
  </em>
  <span>started to submerge a little. Gordon felt some weight add to the can and laughed, before realizing </span>
  <em>
    <span>he had no clue how to close the lid of the can. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He let the can start to slowly replace the ocean water with the brine pool water, struggling to think of what to do next. “Niiice,” Benrey commented, smiling a little as he pushed the can in a little deeper. The two waited for the can to fill, and Benrey took his hand off of Gordon’s, and with that the can started to float back on top of the brine pool like it was dirt, and panicking, Gordon slammed the open hole of the can into the thick material of his suit, trying to close it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...guessing that means we’re going back?” Benrey asked, and Gordon nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I see him!” Tommy said, using the red algae he had collected with Darnold to point to the massive and lengthy tentacles that were far in the distance. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s great,” Darnold said, quickly grabbing a little bit of the algae that managed to slip through his fingers. “Hopefully this won’t be… too difficult,” Darnold nervously chuckled, as he followed Tommy who had already started swimming towards the leviathan that was the giant squid’s father. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, it shouldn’t be!” Tommy optimistically hummed, following the slow movement of the tentacles as they got closer and more clear. Darnold closely followed behind, getting more and more nervous as they got closer. Nobody often spoke to G-Man, as he was probably the least social of the sirens. The last time Darnold was this close to him, was when Darnold was being chased by a few large sharks and didn’t know how to use his venom yet, and the massive thriving tentacles curled around the sharks until it strangled them. It was terrifying, but Darnold was still thankful for the save. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, dad!” Tommy shouted, swimming up close to G-Man with no hesitation, while Darnold lagged behind, keeping a small distance away from the leviathan. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah… hello Tommy, and… Darnold,” G-man greeted, eyes drifting to Darnold, his tone devoid of any emotion aside from slight interest as usual. “I see you’ve two been.. collecting algae..” he observed, the grey scales scattered around his face similar to Tommy’s, shimmering and glowing slightly. Darnold squinted a little, and noticed quite a few wounds on the squid’s face. No- not wounds- these have long since healed and have settled on G-man’s face as scars. One was across the bridge of his nose, another ran through his bottom and top lips, and a third laid across his cheek and ran down to his neck. Darnold didn’t want to imagine what could’ve given those scars, especially to something like G-man who could kill with no effort. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay..” Tommy started. “So… Benrey got this great idea! There’s been this REALLY nice- and when I mean really nice- I mean REALLY nice human, and- I know you don't like humans.. b-but- but this one- this one is different! He- he gave us stuff! Stuff and- and things that we haven’t seen before.. and- Benrey wants to add him to the school! Darnold- Darnold knows this thing that can turn him into a siren- a siren like us! And he can be with us!” Tommy explained, and Darnold watched G-man’s face carefully, listening to the silence after Tommy had stopped talking and hearing his own racing heartbeat. He observed the leviathan’s face, looking for a shift in expression. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...run that.. by me again, Tommy,” the squid said, and the slight interest in his voice changed from interest to something that sounded a little more upset. </span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. When the bell it tolls for me?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Benrey and Gordon were slowly making their way back to the base, Gordon having to completely rely on Benrey for the directions and following the massive oarfish so he wouldn’t get lost. He had the soda can still pressed </span>
  <em>
    <span>harshly </span>
  </em>
  <span>against his suit, so the toxic contents within the soda wouldn’t leak out, which meant that he had to mostly rely on his feet for swimming which made him incredibly slow, despite the ridiculously large flippers on the suit. Benrey seemed to notice the man’s slower-than-usual speed, and thankfully slowed down himself to not leave Gordon behind. Gordon wished he could thank the leviathan for that, but sadly, he knew Benrey wouldn’t understand him at the moment which also meant the man couldn’t apologize for kicking him in one of the deep gashes earlier. He still felt pretty shitty about that, if he was being honest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon also noticed how Benrey was unusually quiet, especially since they were both alone. He wasn’t the most talkative with the others around, but he was much more of a chatterbox when they were alone. Usually the leviathan was either taunting or teasing the man or at the very least singing. It struck Gordon as a little odd, but then again they </span>
  <em>
    <span>were </span>
  </em>
  <span>underwater swimming in the possible equivalent of an infinite void, with Gordon having to wear a helmet which prevented him from being heard, and Gordon had just kicked his friend pretty hard not long ago at all. “Come ‘ere, Feetman,” Benrey instructed, starting to swim in a direction that confused the hell out of Gordon. He could’ve sworn the base was back </span>
  <em>
    <span>up. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon didn’t budge, looking confused at the oarfish, who stopped when he realized he wasn’t following. Gordon could hear the bubbling sound from his helmet, and watched as the bubbles floated off to the side. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Not making this fucking mistake again</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Gordon thought as he shifted his body and position to where the bubbles floated looked more like the direction up. Benrey tilted his head as he watched Gordon do that, but didn’t further question it aside from a “..why aren’t you following me, bro?” Gordon failed at not rolling his eyes, which honestly didn’t matter since he was sure his face was pretty much impossible to see underneath the helmet. Gordon gestured to where the bubbles floated, holding out his right arm dramatically and going “Bbffth,” in a poor attempt to say “base”. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bbbbbbb? You going bbb, now? Little cringe baby man goes bbb? With the bbbb water?” Benrey teased, and Gordon didn’t know </span>
  <em>
    <span>what </span>
  </em>
  <span>was so funny about Benrey making the noise of </span>
  <em>
    <span>bbbbbb </span>
  </em>
  <span>but it got him good, and the man had the basically claw at the soda can to not drop it or loosen it while he curled in a little laughing. He laughed for a few moments, not even wanting to think about how it sounded on Benrey’s end. However, when the laughing fit was over, he couldn’t help but go “bbbbbbbbbbb!” In between short giggles to replicate Benrey’s noise as best he could. It sounded more similar to the helmet bubbling rather than Benrey’s. “BBBBBBBBBBB,” Benrey did again, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>much </span>
  </em>
  <span>deeper and louder than before. Gordon couldn’t help but wheeze and snort from the laughter. In between his wheezes he did a weak “Bbbbbbb?” Back. What followed in response was the two basically screaming “BBBBBBBB” at each other to see who could make it more distorted and louder, until Gordon couldn’t handle it and started wheezing and snorting in laughter once again, curling in, holding his stomach, and desperately trying not to drop the can. Benrey smiled a little, admiring the sight of Gordon just laughing, before starting to laugh himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The first thing Gordon heard from Benrey’s laugh was that it sounded like a fucking Disney supervillain. It was energetic, it was raspy and deep, and it couldn’t be anymore fitting for the oarfish and that’s what Gordon loved about it. Eventually the laughter subsided, and Gordon eventually remembered where he was. The… endless void of the deep ocean. But thankfully, right next to him in that void was a friend who cared for him deeply. And who’s face had a slight red tint to it, once their laughter silenced. Not knowing what else to do, since he couldn’t show expression or say anything, Gordon nodded hoping Benrey would get the message and feel the validation. The siren’s pupils widening and the slightly smug smile confirmed that the message got through. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...jellyfish can wait.. back to the fuckin, uh… cringe base we go,” Benrey muttered, turning back around to where Gordon assumed where the base was. Gordon couldn’t help but frown a little, now a little somewhat excited to spend a little more time with Benrey, but he could do that after he became one of them (which still confused the absolute living shit out of the man the more he thought of it). The oarfish started swimming again, a little faster now, and Gordon started kicking his feet and struggling to keep up again. Every now and then Benrey would speak a little about something, before trailing off and forgetting what he was saying. Then there would be a nice relaxing silence, then he’d start filling the silence with his words and honestly Gordon preferred Benrey’s unamused and monotone voice over the silence. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Currently, Gordon was listening to the leviathan ramble on about fish and plankton, stuttering and mumbling a lot. It was interesting, hearing Benrey’s interpretation of them, even if he already knew most of what Benrey was saying or if it was common knowledge. Until Gordon slowly stopped kicking his feet, and watched as Benrey continued rambling without realizing he had stopped. Gordon paused, a little confused as to why it felt like his ears were ringing and he couldn’t focus on whatever Benrey was rambling about. He watched as Benrey continued swimming, still not realizing, but Gordon looked down. He could swear he could </span>
  <em>
    <span>hear </span>
  </em>
  <span>something, and without giving it a second thought, he started to swim down. It wasn’t until a few moments later until Benrey heard it. He heard that infuriating, mesmerizing, and beautiful voice. Benrey turned, irritated and suddenly very tense, as his eyes darted around looking for the colossal squid. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...stay.. close?” Benrey’s voice trailed off and sounded more confused, when he noticed how Gordon wasn’t with him anymore. Eyes widening as Benrey realized, he felt a warm and familiar feeling as the lights slipped from the lips again. A mintish green that glowed bright and faded into a darker green that was more the color of kelp. Benrey felt his heart start racing as he desperately scanned the dark water for Gordon, looking up, down, to the sides, </span>
  <em>
    <span>everywhere. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It wasn’t until his attention focused on the voice again, that he realized. Ignoring all his wounds, and the danger alarms going off in his head, he started swimming down to the direction of the voice as fast as he could. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Darnold felt a few gentle yet strong tentacles wrap around his torso, as Tommy lifted him onto the floor of the Vehicle Dock. Tommy unwrapped the tentacles once the octopus was safely onto the Vehicle Dock, and took out a few of his other tentacles from the water, and dropped large clumps of red algae. He added to the pile by opening his arms and there was a loud wet </span>
  <em>
    <span>slop </span>
  </em>
  <span>as it landed on top of the rest of the algae. “Thank you, Tommy,” Darnold said, smiling brightly at the squid as he dropped his share of the algae he gathered into the pile. “Now where’s that ba-“ Darnold started, before getting cut off by a shell hitting him in the head. Darnold hissed in pain, rubbing his forehead, as Tommy picked up and looked at the shell curiously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ha! Got’cha bitch,” Bubby laughed, as he appeared from the water, arms holding up quite a few shells. Bubby swam over to Darnold, and dumped the shells on top of the algae, then climbed up using the emergency ladders and sat in the ground. Darnold scowled a little at the viperfish, before a cheerful “Hello Darnold! Hello Tommy!” Grabbed his attention. Coomer surfaced from the water, all four arms carrying twice the amount of shells Bubby had brought in. He quickly dropped the shells next to the others, climbed onto the floor, and sat next to Bubby patiently. “Thank you… just.. please don’t throw crap at me again,” Darnold muttered, trying to ignore the viperfish’s snicker. “Sorry. I couldn’t help it,” Bubby shrugged, before crossing their arms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I found it!” Tommy said, wrapping a tentacle around the handles of the bag and gently handing it to the blue ringed octopus, who’s bright blue rings pulsed a little with a slight glow. “Thank you, I wouldn’t know what I would do without you, Tommy,” Darnold chuckled, taking the bag from Tommy’s tentacle, who’s brightly yellowed stripes along the tentacle glowed a little bit, similar to Darnold’s rings. The octopus smiled at that, before him and Tommy started scooping the things they gathered into the bag. He shoved thee shells to the side, which had a similar shape to that of a cup or mug. Darnold reached for the brine water, before realizing that he didn’t have it. He blinked, and looked around. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wh-whats wrong, Darnold? Are we missing something?” Tommy asked, voice worried and high pitched. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where the actual fuck are Gordon and Benrey?” Bubby stated, saying what Darnold was thinking. Everyone paused for a moment, looking around, and back at each other. “They should be fine, Benrey is a levi-“ Darnold started before getting interrupted by Bubby. “A LEVIATHAN who tried to kill him and us not too long ago!” Bubby snapped at Darnold, who scowled at the viperfish. “They seemed pretty close earlier, my good friend. And it wouldn’t make sense for Benrey to suggest the lovely idea, only to go against it and kill Gordon!”  Coomer tried to reason with the viperfish, who instead gestured to the bandages wrapped around a large portion of his tail. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Unless he was trying to get us to separate and kill Gordon </span>
  <em>
    <span>alone</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” Bubby insisted, baring his teeth a little and growling.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now- I’m sure they’re just.. running late..” Darnold rubbed at his gills, wincing a little. They still stung a little. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...where’s my dad?” Tommy asked, tentacles nervously wrapping around each other as the squid picked at his scales. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...I thought he wasn’t getting involved,” Bubby muttered, crossing his arms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well… Tommy and I went and got him, but- but it went good!” Darnold said, looking at Tommy who nodded in confirmation. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! He- he- he said he’d meet us here..” Tommy stuttered out, now picking at the webbing in between his fingers. Darnold took notice of that, and gently wrapped a short and thick tentacle over the squid’s hand to get him to stop. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Light!” Coomer shouted, pointing down into the water of the sea base.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you Coomer, but what the actual shit do you mean?” Bubby asked, looking in the direction where the mantis shrimp was pointing. Squinting a little and adjusting his glasses, the viperfish could see a very distant and faint glow in the rippling water. “What the fuck?” He muttered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What? What is it!” Tommy cried out, leaning over the ledge of the base and peering into the water, and Darnold quickly did the same. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...looks like one of Benrey’s lights,” The octopus pointed out, before looking at Tommy. “Can you see what it means from here?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...a-a mint… a mint green.. a mint green to a.. to uh.. to a green that's the- uh- shade of kelp.. a mint green that’s the shade of kelp means that he needs help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey continued to swim as fast as he could deeper and deeper into the void, listening as the voice got louder and louder. His pupils were so slim to the point where they were barely visible, as his eyes darted around looking for Gordon’s figure in the darkness. Eventually he saw some bubbles float up right below him, and he started to follow where they were rising from. He bit his tongue trying to push past the screaming pain of his tail protesting, as he could swear he felt some wounds rip. It hurt so badly, but he couldn’t let Gordon die. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He could feel the taste of iron in his mouth as his teeth dug into his tongue, but he didn’t care. He had to get to Gordon, no matter what. And eventually, he could make out the vague figure of Gordon in the distance, still slowly swimming down. That was enough to get Benrey to push past the pain even faster, swimming even faster. He cried out in paint a little, some wounds ripping as he bent his tail in certain ways in a poor attempt to go even faster. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey ended up catching up to Gordon in no time, his mouth warm and tasting of iron. He could vaguely see blood flowing from his mouth and mixing with the light orbs, but he wasn’t focusing on that, he was focusing on the man who attempted to swim closer to the source of the voice. Benrey wasted no time grabbing Gordon, wrapping his arms around the man’s chest and neck tightly to get him to stop moving. Gordon fought against the leviathan’s grip, weakly pushing against his arms trying to kick and move, which only resulted in Benrey protectively wrapping his massive tail around himself and Gordon to reduce the chances of him getting away. Gordon continued to squirm and attempt to get away, so Benrey continued to wrap his body around the man and hug him tightly, putting his head over his shoulder. “Please.. please you.. you idiot.. fuckin.. dumbass.. please snap out of it..” Benrey quietly muttered, completely tuning out the voice as he focused on putting pressure against Gordon and keeping him safe. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t until he felt a tentacle wrap around Gordon’s leg, a part of his tail, and and his throat when he opened his eyes and realized just how much closer the voice had gotten and how he could see G man slowly come into view, an expression Benrey was far too familiar with worn on the squid’s scarred face. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Both you and I know</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Benrey tightened his grip on the writhing and squirming Gordon, hugging him tighter and pulling him closer to his chest, while his tail was wrapped tightly around the two of them. He tensed as he felt the tentacles wrap around himself and the tranced Gordon, a few tentacles carefully and painfully dragging along some of his wounds before wrapping tightly around them. Benrey hissed in pain, his eyes desperately darting around to find the approaching danger. He didn’t loosen his death grip on Gordon when G-Man slowly came into view, a familiar unhappy expression on his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can tell that.. you are unhappy to see me. Your… pupils make it, quite obvious, don’t they? In, all honesty.. I can barely even see them. Are you filled with fear? Well.. you really shouldn’t be.. I am here for him, since.. you failed,” G-Man explained, pointing at the man Benrey was currently hugging in a pitiful attempt to keep him from leaving. The squid frowned at that, and swam closer. G-Man’s eyes drifted to the bandages wrapped around Benrey, and he noticed where the blood-stains were strongest. Keeping one tentacle around the oarfish’s neck, and another around Gordon’s ankle, the rest moved around Benrey’s body, finding where the blood stains on the bandages were strongest and tightening their grip harshly on the wound. Benrey cried out in pain, holding Gordon a little tighter, who continued to squirm and attempt to get away. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let him go…” The squid threatened, tightening their grip even farther on the oarfish’s wounds, and digging the end of their tentacle into his gills. “And.. I’ll spare you. A school.. does need two leviathans.. after all. However, if you.. continue to refuse to let the.. </span>
  <em>
    <span>human </span>
  </em>
  <span>go.. I won’t hesitate to get to him.. even if I have to tear through you..”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey grabbed onto Gordon even tighter, basically clawing at the diving suit at this point, as he desperately tried not to scream in pain as the tentacles continued to dig into his already open skin. He wouldn’t let Gordon go. He wouldn’t let G-Man kill him. Benrey felt the tentacle around his neck start to dig into and scratch at his gills, and Benrey felt as his mouth started to </span>
  <em>
    <span>burn, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and he couldn’t help but scream in pain, attempting to curl in on himself only for the tentacles to dig in farther. Once he opened his mouth, he could feel the blood and lights pour from his mouth as the green shades mixed with a slight red tint floated up similar to how bubbles would. He felt Gordon shift a little as his head moved a little and tilted up, watching the lights. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..last chance, Benrey. It would be.. quite a shame to hurt you any farther.. especially over something as.. idiotic at protecting a human.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey didn’t say anything, he just hugged Gordon tighter as he felt the man go limp, still stuck in the trance. “..please.. snap out of this shit.. please..” Benrey weakly said through clenched teeth, trying to refrain from digging his claws into the diving suit from the pure agony he was in. “Please.. say.. say something.. bro.. stupid.. stupid fucking Feetman.. just.. do something.. please..” Benrey quietly begged painfully and carefully repositioned himself and moved Gordon to where he was staring at Gordon’s face (really his helmet). He could barely see Gordon’s face, and Benrey failed to bite back another shout of pain as he G-Man cut into his skin deep with his tentacles. “Please.. bro- I’m begging you..” Benrey quietly said again, voice shaking, a she moved his arms to holding Gordon’s head. There was no reaction from the man, he just stayed limp. Another pained scream from Benrey escaped, along with a mix of white and green lights that flew from his mouth as he felt another very deep slash. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..i should’ve guessed that just.. hacking at your.. old wounds wouldn’t do too much,” G-Man explained, as Benrey felt the tight grip of the tentacles release, except for the one currently cutting into his gills. Benrey didn’t get much time to relax or even react before they wrapped around his chest and stomach. “So.. how about I up the stakes? Give Dr. Freeman over..” Benrey could tell that G-Man didn’t want to kill him, hell- if he did he would definitely be dead by now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the actual FUCK is going on here?” Benrey’s head snapped up to see the school come into view, Bubby being the one shouted. Coomer followed very close by Bubby, a shocked and confused expression replacing his usual goofy smile as he looked at the situation. Darnold and Tommy followed close behind, Tommy with a look of horror and shock in his face. G-Man didn’t answer, he just kept his attention on Benrey and Gordon, and continued to dig the surprisingly sharp tentacles into the oarfish’s scales, deeper and deeper, cutting into the gills on Benrey’s neck, and tightening his grip on Gordon’s leg, and slowly moving the tentacle to wrap around Gordon even more. Benrey hissed as the pain intensified, hugging Gordon even tighter and starting to tremble a little from the burning pain that was screaming all over his body. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wh-Wh- what’s going on?!” Tommy cried out, swimming a little closer to G-man. Benrey looked over to Tommy for a second, and saw the wide eyes still struck with absolute horror from the situation and looked back at Gordon, who was still completely limp. “..bro? Snap out of it, please? please..” Benrey muttered, grabbing Gordon's head (or helmet), and gently shaking it a little, like he was trying to wake the man up from a nightmare. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I am currently.. doing my job.. which is protecting you all.. but however.. Benrey is protecting the.. danger.” G-Man explained, looking down at Tommy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you mean Gordon?!” Coomer shouted, swimming towards Benrey and Gordon, before G-Man quickly unwrapped one of the ones digging into Benrey and gently pulled Coomer away. Benrey didn’t even notice that a tentacle had let go, since he was far too focused on trying to get a reaction from Gordon. He was getting desperate at this point, and all he could smell and taste was his own blood, mixing with the water surrounding them. “Gordon isn’t dangerous.. hell- he </span>
  <em>
    <span>wants </span>
  </em>
  <span>to become one of us!” Darnold spoke out, but a quick and intimidating glance from G-Man shut him up pretty quickly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He has.. put us all in.. quite a bit of danger. We would most likely.. all be in a lot more trouble.. if Benrey and I.. hadn’t stepped in..” The squid said, narrowing his eyes at the other leviathan currently wrapped around Gordon, making it nearly impossible to get to the man. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Nearly. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Benrey was still holding Gordon’s face, still desperate for a reaction. “please, bro?” He asked, trying to look in through the glass on Gordon’s helmet, just to see </span>
  <em>
    <span>any </span>
  </em>
  <span>reaction. Hell, he’d take a blink from the man at this point. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“M-Mr. Freeman has- hasn’t put us in any danger! All- all- I- all he’s done is help us! And- and- and show us ne-new things!” Tommy shouted, swimming closer to the leviathan squid. He attempted to grab G-Man’s arm, but the larger squid only pulled away and narrowed his eyes at the horrified Tommy. Tommy didn’t even flinch or back down. Unlike the others, who had no clue what to do. Not even Bubby, who was the first one who bit Benrey, wasn’t making a move to attack G-Man. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He… failed to heed my warning.. and he can’t escape.. the consequences of his actions. Benrey.. proved to be a failure.. and a poor excuse for a leviathan..” G-Man explained, a hint of almost disgust to his voice as he spoke. The mentioned oarfish was still desperately clinging onto Gordon, like he was the only thing keeping him alive, trembling as he looked in through the helmet. Still no reaction from Gordon, just a lifeless and glassy look in the man’s eyes, which terrified Benrey more than G-Man ever has. His grip loosened quite a bit from the shock and fear, and before he even had the chance to say something or do anything G-Man tightened the tentacles around Benrey’s body, stabbing into his stomach and gills harshly, and managed to pry Gordon away from Benrey’s death grip in a single quick motion. It took a moment for Benrey to react, and when he tried to look back towards G-Man (who had a single tentacle wrapped around Gordon tightly, with Gordon still stuck in a basically asleep state) and Gordon, the tentacle around his neck tightened, and Benrey felt it get harder and harder to breathe, his gills cut and covered. A soft whine escaped his lips (along with blood), as he struggled to move, either pain, wounds, or the tentacles preventing him from doing so. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“W-w-wait- d- dad please- just.. if we convince you- can you </span>
  <em>
    <span>please </span>
  </em>
  <span>just let him be one of us? He- he won’t even be dangerous anymore!” Tommy suggested, clinging onto G-Man’s arm once more. The leviathan looked down at his son, his face difficult to read, but still mildly upset. Then G-Man looked at Gordon, his face with a hint of disgust, then back at his son, who was looking at him with puppy dog eyes. “...I suppose.. but-“ G-man paused, turning to Gordon again, and slithering the tentacle around Gordon like a snake until it got to the oxygen tanks, and then cutting a very </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>tiny tear into Gordon’s oxygen tank, but it made a sound to where everyone could tell what he did. “I suggest you convince me fast.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“WHAT IS FUCKING WRONG WITH YOU!” Bubby snarled, lunging towards G-Man, who didn’t even flinch. Bubby pulled back on the attack before he got anywhere close to the leviathan. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..very convincing..” the leviathan taunted with a smug smile. “And.. nothing is wrong with me.. I am simply protecting you all.. because you can not see a danger.. when it is nearby.” Bubby growled, before looking back at Benrey, who was still held in place by G-Man’s tentacles, trembling a little still and still heavily bleeding. The viperfish felt a little bad seeing him like that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He- Gordon doesn’t have a school- anymore!” Darnold quickly spat out, desperately trying to say something that would change G-Man’s mind. “Gordon told us that he doesn’t have one! His school failed!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good.. humans are much more dangerous.. when they are in groups,” the squid responded with, narrowing his eyes at the limp Gordon, who was still wrapped in the squid’s long tentacle. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well.. Gordon has been.. nothing short of caring and kind to us, you see. He just… wants a new school. Wouldn’t you want a new school if you were suddenly on your own?” Coomer asked, looking towards Benrey as well, a feeling of worry and even guilt forming in his stomach. The mantis shrimp slowly swam over to the oarfish, who couldn’t even see him coming from the way G-Man had his head angled. He wished he could do something but he didn’t want to risk anything happening to Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Humans work in groups.. to hurt other creatures..” G-Man crossed his arms, still slightly smug. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He LOST his fucking hand!” Bubby shouted, swimming closer towards Coomer and staying protectively near both the mantis shrimp and the oarfish. “What the actual fuck could he do?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well.. good thing. He used that hand.. to write valuable information about us.. and he only.. needs one hand to fire that.. weapon he used on that one,” G-Man continued, pointing at Benrey. Darnold narrowed his eyes at G-Man, then swam over to join Coomer and Bubby by Benrey. “It’s.. it’s going to be alright,” He said to Benrey, who opened his mouth, struggling to breathe but he needed to </span>
  <em>
    <span>speak. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He.. he.. fuckin tried.. tried to save.. those fuckin- those.. the notes.. bro.. he.. lost his fucking.. the fuckin hand.. attacking who took them.. he chose </span>
  <em>
    <span>our safety</span>
  </em>
  <span>.. over everything else.. dude..” Benrey struggled to spit out in between heavy and weak breaths, voice quiet and raspy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everyone paused for a moment, even the colossal squid himself. It took only a moment of thought from him before he said, an almost </span>
  <em>
    <span>unsure </span>
  </em>
  <span>tone to his voice, “Well… Dr. Freeman shouldn’t have written those notes in the first place.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please- please- please don’t kill him!” Tommy basically sobbed, gripping onto his father’s arm even tighter. “He- he cares about us, I-I </span>
  <em>
    <span>swear!</span>
  </em>
  <span> Just- please don’t- I promise- I promise- that he cares.. please.. “</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>G-Man paused again, brows furrowed as he thought. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>fucking think he knew any better? That he would purposely try to hurt us, especially after we go this fucking far to keep him around?” Bubby growled, baring his teeth like a dog a little, eyes anxiously darting between G-Man and the barely conscious and limp Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know you have what’s best for us in mind, G-Man, but…” Coomer started, sadly looking at Gordon and then at Tommy. Coomer was half tempted to just punch and rip the tentacles off of Benrey and Gordon, but Tommy can barely handle what’s happening right now. He didn’t want to put him through that. “Maybe you should listen to us a little more? Or at least listen to what we have to say, because Gordon really isn’t who you think he is. And if he was, we wouldn’t be defending him.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please… just help us turn him into a siren? All we need is two things from you.. just.. your scale and your voice. That’s it. Then he won’t be human.. and.. he won’t be dangerous.. please..” Darnold said, his voice almost a whisper as he struggled to speak out through his fear and anxiety. He hated fights like this. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>G-Man didn’t answer for a moment, thinking about it. “...I suppose I can let him live,” the squid said, looking down at his son, who was basically burying his face into his arm (and if they weren’t underwater, he’s sure Tommy would be crying). “On one condition: It is not my job to protect him. I am not </span>
  <em>
    <span>his </span>
  </em>
  <span>leviathan.. If he gets into trouble.. it’s your job to deal with it,” G-Man pointed at Benrey, before releasing the giant oarfish, unwrapping both Gordon and Benrey. “I’ll give a scale.. and my voice.. I just don’t want to see him around too often.” G-Man said, an annoyed and disgusted tone to his voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon was still limp, and Benrey could finally see that. And </span>
  <em>
    <span>god </span>
  </em>
  <span>he wanted to curl around the man again and protect him, but all he could really do at the moment was try to regain a steady breath. He couldn’t move even if he wanted to. He put a still trembling hand over his gills, hissing in pain. Everything fucking hurt again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tommy thanked G-Man over and over again, his voice still trembling a little, before finally releasing his grip of the squid’s arm and swimming over to where Gordon was, waving a hand in front of his face. Not surprisingly, Gordon didn’t react, either unconscious or still stuck in the trance from G-Man’s voice. Tommy didn’t want to find out, and went to grab Gordon by his torso. “I- I- we- we </span>
  <em>
    <span>need </span>
  </em>
  <span>to get him back..” Tommy said, his voice anxious. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..take him.. to the base, bro.. I’ll.. go back when I can.. fucking move..” Benrey weakly spat out, voice still raspy and a few bright white orbs leaving his throat. Tommy noticed the orbs, and frowned, before nodding. Then Tommy turned to Bubby and Coomer. “Take him back, please? I’ll.. I’ll help Benrey back,” Tommy explained, carrying Gordon to the two sirens. Coomer didn’t hesitate to grab Gordon with both pairs of arms, shockingly gently for how much power he had in all his arms. Coomer nodded, before turning to Bubby, saying, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>You </span>
  </em>
  <span>help Benrey and Tommy, Bubby. We both know I’d get him back faster,” Coomer forced a laugh out of the situation, but it sounded a little dry. Bubby grumbled something before getting a quick kiss from Coomer, and then the mantis shrimp didn’t hesitate to swim back to the base as fast as he could, still holding Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You should probably come with me back to the base.. I think we need more brine water, and everything else is in the Vehicle Dock,” Darnold explained, gesturing to G-Man, who narrowed his eyes a little at that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...Please? I- it’s the least you can do.. after.. hurting Mr. Freeman and Benrey..” Tommy quietly suggested, looking up at G-Man with what could only be described as puppy dog eyes. The colossal squid sighed, and muttered a quiet “I suppose I could,” and starting to following a nervous and still pretty shaken up Darnold back to the base. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...so do you two.. fuckin, cringe babies just.. drag me.. or what?” Benrey muttered in a poor attempt to hide the pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We could just leave you here,” Bubby rolled his eyes, before looking at Tommy, who awkwardly chuckled at the two. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..please don't..” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s what i thought, asshole.” </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This was a... very difficult chapter</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. When it tolls, well, it tolls for thee.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gordon felt himself get gently laid onto the floor of the Vehicle Dock, and someone tug the helmet off his head. The helmet didn’t come off too easily, but Gordon didn’t exactly feel grateful once the damned thing was off. In fact, he felt nothing. His body didn’t have the feeling of numbness, it just… didn’t have a feeling. His mind and thoughts had that same feeling, similar to what happened when he first saw the colossal squid. Gordon didn’t bother to answer or even glance in the direction of whoever muttered an “oh dear.” He was just staring at the very bland and boring ceiling of the Vehicle Dock, as he tried to comprehend and remember what happened. He could remember bits and pieces, though they were blurry. It felt like he dumped a jigsaw puzzle on the table and could only find like 4 pieces and had to make do. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The first puzzle piece he could remember the most, was just him fucking around with Benrey while they were on their back from the brine pools, and then he heard </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>and then things just got foggy and blurry afterwards. The second puzzle piece felt like it was painted over a little or even cut. All he could remember was Benrey pulling him close and wrapping very tightly around him, like he was being strangled. Thinking about it, it stung a little. The third puzzle piece felt like it was cut in half and glued back together. It was very difficult to remember, but all he could think of was the green shades of light, with a very slight red tint to them, blurring and mixing with the dark void surrounding him, and a monotone voice whispering things he couldn’t understand or comprehend. Then there was the last puzzle piece, which felt like it had been through a damn paper shredder and back. All he could remember was something cold cutting into him and shouting, but nothing that he could see. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This probably would’ve been frustrating, if Gordon didn’t feel so emotionally and mentally exhausted. His ribs, chest, and left ankle stung a little, but other than that, his body was still consistent with that </span>
  <em>
    <span>empty </span>
  </em>
  <span>feeling. He didn’t care for it. Gordon just continued to lie there, staring at the metallic ceiling of the base. The only thing that really caught his attention enough to get the man to blink was a splash from the pool in the middle of the Dock. Then there was a long, empty silence, before there was another splash. He could hear a familiar blue ringed octopus voice greeting him, and he could tell there was somebody else in the Dock as well, but he couldn’t find the motivation to respond in the slightest. They stayed for a short amount of time, Gordon heard a vaguely familiar singing, and another splash as they both left. By the time that was over, the pain in Gordon’s ribs and chest were more noticeable and he couldn’t just not care about it anymore. As he waited for whatever to happen, he slowly inched over to the wall, and shifted to where he was on his side, arms wrapped around his ribs as he curled up in an attempt to soothe the stinging pain. He was facing the pool now, so he had something more than a grey ceiling to look at.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And after god knows how long, he finally got something to look at, but it wasn’t good. Dread and concern quickly replaced that empty feeling when he saw Tommy, Coomer, Darnold, and Bubby all help Benrey get onto the Vehicle Dock, and somehow the oarfish managed to come back in worse shape than before. What the hell </span>
  <em>
    <span>happened? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Any wounds that were previously bandaged were torn open, there was stained blood around the siren’s mouth, and he had many new cuts around his neck, stomach, and chest. Gordon failed to hold back the slight cringed expression biting at his lips and eyes, as he watched them talk over each other and ramble on about god knows what. They helped Benrey up on the opposite side of the room as Gordon, and thankfully, the leviathan was facing Gordon. They made eye contact, the siren’s slim and nearly unnoticeable pupils expanding once he saw Gordon’s expression. It wasn’t blank, foggy, or lifeless. That was all the oarfish could hope for. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..yo…” Benrey weakly greeted, the white orbs of light slipping out once he opened his mouth and lingering around the room. </span>
  <em>
    <span>A bright white means he’s not alright. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mnh..” Gordon groaned, only really finding the motivation and strength to make that noise instead of asking the questions that were starting to dart around his mind like a fucking olympics track race. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Gordon! Wonderful to see you’re coming back!” Coomer cheerfully greeted, waving a human arm and one of the incredibly deadly mantis shrimp arms. Gordon couldn’t find the energy to respond however, and the mantis shrimp got nothing more than a blank stare. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you dare fucking go back into la-la land or whatever the hell G-Man did to you!” Bubby scolded once he saw Gordon’s basically dead stare. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t yell at him.. it’s not like it’s going to make the effect fade any faster,” Darnold said, not even bothering to look at Gordon and keeping his full attention on the bag, which looked a lot more full than it had before. He seemed to be crushing whatever was in it into pieces. Gordon didn’t have time to linger on it though, when his attention got taken by Tommy, who was carrying a medkit by the handle, using his tentacle, while his hands worked on patching Benrey up. Currently he was applying pressure on one of the deeper and bigger cuts along the siren’s stomach. “Hi, Mr. Freeman!” Tommy hummed, not looking at the man since his attention was mostly taken up by Benrey’s wounds. Tommy got the same silent response that Coomer had gotten from Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yo… uh.. feetman.. fucking uh..” Benrey weakly stammered out, eyes not tearing away from Gordon’s tired ones. “Bbb? Bbb bbbbb?” Despite the little energy and motivation he had, Gordon couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at that, the pleasant memories of what had happened before the fogginess coming back. “Bbbbbbb..” Gordon tiredly said after his laughter ceased, and Benrey couldn’t help but smile a little once he saw some of the life come back to Gordon’s eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bbbbbbb!” The oarfish exclaimed, tapping their fingers against the floor of the base. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bbb.. bbbbb!” Gordon hummed, finally getting some energy back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bbbb?” Coomer added, adding a questioning tone to the noise somehow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bbbbb!” Tommy trilled as he wrapped up the cut on Benrey’s stomach, tentacle swaying the medkit a little as he happily bounced in place. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bbbb- bb?” Darnold added, chucking a little bit at just how stupid yet entertaining the conversation was, as he ground the pieces in the bag.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“B.” Bubby quickly said, an amused tone to his voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t know why, but the letter ‘B’ was so fucking hilarious to him at the moment, that he couldn’t help but burst into laughter. He curled in a little bit, trying to soothe the pain that spiked in his ribs from the wheezing laughter. Tommy started to giggle a little too, as he started to carefully apply pressure to one of the cuts on Benrey’s side. Darnold chuckled a little bit, half from the amusement from the situation, and half from relief that Gordon is finally making some progress. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It took a long time as the energy and life slowly came back to Gordon, to the point where the man was now sitting up (no longer having to curl in pain thanks to Tommy giving him and Benrey some Advil), curiously watching everyone. Benrey was still across the room from Gordon, laying down and either watching Gordon or watching Bubby, Coomer, and Tommy play Marco Polo (only after Gordon started rambling on about what he used to play in the pool as a kid). It was very nice, just watching the three have some fun after what happened. A few memories had come back, but they still felt like small and aged jigsaw pieces. He could vaguely remember the scarred face of the colossal squid (which he learned was named G-Man after asking about what the fuck happened), and the tentacles wrapping around him and Benrey. They were… quite terrifying memories especially since apparently the only reason G-Man agreed to letting him live was if he didn’t have to see Gordon again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tried not to think of that, and tried to focus back on his friends. “Marco!” Tommy said, eyes closed, and Gordon watched amused as Bubby failed to answer with a polo, until Coomer punched him lightly in the arm and said “Polo!” Riget next to the siren before quickly swimming away from the viperfish. “YOU-“ Bubby shouted, pointing at a now giggling Coomer, before getting cut off by what Gordon could assume was Tommy’s tentacles playfully dragging him underwater. Tommy broke out into a fit of giggles, before shouting “I got you!” Flapping his hands up and down, the fingers repeatedly hitting the surface of the water. Bubby resurfaced, a less than amused expression on his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But of course, just like most good moments Gordon had since he was put in this hell hole that passed as a “research base” it was quickly interrupted by the sharp infuriating beeping of his watch, which he had almost completely forgotten about. Gordon groaned loudly, everyone stopping what they were doing to look in his direction. “..damn that.. that real sucks bro..” Benrey teased, the smug, toothy, and playful smile on the oarfish’s face that Gordon had come to enjoy so much. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can you walk on your own?” Darnold asked, not looking up from still making the “potion” that would turn Gordon into a siren, taking a pretty large shell that Bubby and Coomer had gathered and pouring in the brine water and dumping some of the now broken down scales and shells into the shell that more shaped like a cup (Gordon didn’t want to think about the potion, the more he thought about it, the more difficult it was not to vomit). </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t answer before switching the watch onto off, and standing up. “Fuck this stupid thing,” Gordon said, a rebellious smile twitching onto his face as he ripped the watch off and started to grind it into the ground with the heel of his foot. “This place can fucking explode for all I care. And if it does, that’s fucking amazing! You won’t have to worry about humans, and nobody else will have to deal with this shit!” Gordon happily said, almost cheering. It was the happiest the sirens had seen the man. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wonderful idea, Gordon!” Coomer clapped, a mischievous smile on his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“HELL yeah! Are we gonna break this fucking place?” Bubby joined in, the unamused frown now replaced with the impish and toothy grins</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That sounds like a- a good- a good fun time!” Tommy stammered, looking just as excited as the others. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..wha.. huh.. we wreckin shit? We- we going crazy stupid?” Benrey asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“NO- no, we are not- well- maybe? I haven’t- I haven’t decided,” Gordon anxiously scratched the back of his head, watching as everyone’s faces faded to disappointment. “What I meant was.. uh.. just ditching the machines so the base wouldn’t operate?” Gordon tried to explain.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s fucking lame,” Bubby scoffed, crossing his arms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We should make it explode!! Explosions are cool!!” Tommy happily shouted, getting a surprised look from Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..you sure? I mean- I thought you didn’t like violence?” Gordon asked, before Darnold spoke up as he started moving the shell with the potion inside in a circular motion to mix whatever was in it. “I’m the one who doesn’t like that,” Darnold explained. Everybody nodded. “Yeah!! I mean- I- I don’t really like friends fighting, but extreme stuff is cool!” Tommy happily hummed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..don’t be lame, bro..” Benrey muttered, looking at Gordon, who couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Look- look, I’m not sure </span>
  <em>
    <span>what </span>
  </em>
  <span>I’m going to do, after. But.. but for now, I'm pretty sure what I want to do. I brought.. </span>
  <em>
    <span>a lot </span>
  </em>
  <span>of personal shit in this metal hell, and some of it I.. I don’t really want to leave?” Gordon fumbled out, hoping that a sliver of it made a little sense to the sirens. They all looked slightly confused, but that was pretty common at this point. Rarely any human things made sense to the sirens, and honestly? Gordon couldn’t blame them. Rarely any human things made sense to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...then we get to destroy some shit?” Coomer asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Gordon said, because he honestly wouldn't mind seeing this place as nothing more than rubble on the ocean floor. It would make sure that nobody else suffered the way he had, and that Black Mesa wouldn’t be able to use this place to hurt anybody else again. Sounded like a way to him. “But </span>
  <em>
    <span>first, </span>
  </em>
  <span>I’m going to take care of some shit,” Gordon said, before getting up and beginning to leave. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>First thing he wanted to do was take off this heavy diving suit, so he immediately went for the scanning room, where he originally got it. It… wasn’t the best memory. The suit was uncomfortable, heavy, and even made it difficult to move at times, and it still was. But waiting for the slow process of the machine to put it on, while hearing the fight going on made Gordon uncomfortable. Gordon could feel his heart wrench as he thought of the pure confusion, panic, and pain from every side. It didn’t help that Benrey’s gashes and bite marks haven’t fully healed from the fight. Gordon made it to the scanning room, and just being in the room made his muscles tighten with discomfort. He could swear he could almost hear Benrey screaming in pain, with Bubby and Coomer screaming at him to let Gordon go. Gordon shuddered, suddenly not wanting to have this suit, this heavy clunky diving suit that held too many horrible memories, any less than before. Gordon sat on one of the desks, next to one of the computers. He didn’t hesitate to get rid of the really annoying flippers (he had no idea why he didn’t rip those off earlier), and the gloves. Those were the easiest. He knew that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But how the hell was he going to get everything else off?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It took an embarrassingly long time before Gordon managed to throw off the chest piece of the suit, hearing a satisfying thunk as it collided with the floor of the scanning room. Gordon stretched, feeling amazing. He felt like he had just woken up from a nap, like one of the </span>
  <em>
    <span>good </span>
  </em>
  <span>ones. Like when you wake up in a completely new sleeping position, blankets and pillows in a tangled mess on your bed, when you can’t comprehend anything at the moment, the lines on your skin, and sometimes even drool. THOSE were the best naps, and that feeling of freedom and comfort after tearing off that cursed suit rivaled the messy good feeling of one of those top tier naps. Gordon missed the simple t-shirt he was wearing under the suit (even if it smelled god awful because who knew how long it’s been since he’s changed, because he sure didn’t), and Gordon also just missed the sight of his own skin. He narrowed his eyes into a glare at the suit pieces on the ground, and kicked one across the room with an angry scowl on his face. Sure it saved his life many times, but what was the point in that if he couldn’t look at it without looking at some of the worst memories of his life? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After the suit was off, Gordon stepped over a nearly empty oxygen tank he tossed on the ground, and did a quick search of the room. He wanted to make sure he didn’t leave anything that he liked behind. Even if it meant getting it wet. Gordon wasn’t even a minute into his quick look around the room when he found something behind one of the large computer monitors. Curious, Gordon pulled the monitor closer to him a little and took out whatever it was. Gordon felt his heart sink when he recognized it as a photo frame, with an all too familiar face on it. It was one of his co-workers, one he had met before he got assigned to the base. They didn’t know each other too well, they only exchanged a quick “hello” when they saw each other and sometimes some chatter about their life at home. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He liked the doctor, and Gordon struggled to remember their name. Doctor… Doctor Birdwell? Yeah. It was definitely Birdwell, holding a large lizard in one hand, and their arm wrapped around a border collie. From the few times they had seen each other, Gordon and Dr. Birdwell had gotten along. Birdwell had lived alone, if you didn’t count their border collie and bearded dragon. Gordon didn’t even try to remember their names, but god Gordon remembered the many times the doctor had rambled on and on about their pets. They always looked forward to going home and cuddling with the dog and holding the dragon. Gordon frowned again, before putting back down the photo, putting the image of Dr Birdwell face down on the table (it hurt too much to look at anymore). Gordon really hoped they got out, but Gordon </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew </span>
  </em>
  <span>he didn’t. Gordon wondered how many things that the previous workers who were doomed to die in this hellish place had left behind. How many items that these people who brought with them because they had a personal connection with them would be lost to the ocean forever if Gordon just let the base be destroyed by himself and his friends. He wasn’t so sure if he wanted this place as rubble anymore. If he destroyed it, these people’s personal items would be destroyed and lost forever. All it took was Gordon thinking about that picture of Joshua and himself at the bottom of the sea, getting buried in the sand to think twice about leaving these things to rot. But if he didn’t destroy it, then Black Mesa would just keep using it to hurt the sirens and people in situations like Gordon’s. Gordon wasn’t sure what to do, if he was being honest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon’s mind drifted to that picture of Joshua again, and Gordon got an idea. It… wasn’t a smart one, but he’d rather take this chance. After another very quick look around the scanner room (and carefully checking behind every monitor), Gordon made his way towards the phones. He wasn’t sure if Black Mesa thought he was dead yet, but another submarine hadn’t arrived to send the next poor soul here, so maybe they knew. It wasn’t a long walk to the phones, and Gordon didn’t hesitate to pick it up. He didn’t have to dial any number, since there was none. The phone only called to a communications room in Black Mesa (or that’s what he imagined, he honestly wasn’t too sure), and so Gordon listened to the slightly irritating noise as he waited for somebody to pick up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon wasn’t sure if he was relieved or terrified whenever he heard the click of the phone being picked up and a voice he couldn’t recognize going, “Freeman? How the hell are you still alive?” </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I PROMISE WERE GETTING TO HIS TRANSFORMATION LIKE NEXT CHAPTER OKAY</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. But where will we go</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HERE IT IS FUCKING 7284 WORDS<br/>THE LONGEST CHAPTER AND IM SO SORRY I CUT OFF RIGHT BEFORE THE TRANSFORMATION I THOUGHT I HAD ENOUGH TIME<br/>Also this might have a hella lot of errors just because of how fucking long it is</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Freeman? How the hell are you still alive?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How the fuck do you know my name?” Gordon snapped at whoever was on the other line, more than a little jumpy and anxious due to talking to Black Mesa again. Well- not Black Mesa, but it sure felt like it was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Calm down. You’re the most recent one in 2K-BASE-A. I’m not even supposed to be talking to you,” The voice answered with, surprisingly nonchalant considering how Gordon snapped at them. Gordon took a deep breath, trying to go over what they told him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...that’s what the base is called- wait- </span>
  <em>
    <span>A? </span>
  </em>
  <span>are there- are there others?” Gordon asked, a pit forming in his stomach as he thought of the possibility of other sea bases. Other people dying or being left to rot just like him, but with no way out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Classified information,” the voice answered with.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just fucking tell me, dude! Sorry- sorry..” Gordon was quick to apologize, and he leaned against the wall, as he talked into the phone. “i shouldn’t be yelling at you-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And I shouldn’t be talking to you. Also by classified, I mean I don’t know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh… also if you’re not supposed to be talking to me, then... why are you talking to me?” Gordon questioned him, already forgetting why he was on the phone in the first place. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They told me not to answer any calls from 2K, and I started hearing rumors about the last person getting sent there attacking a fucking soldier and having to be left for dead. I’m a curious person.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon cringed when the voice mentioned the soldier incident, and wanted to just bury his face in his hand, but it was currently holding the phone. “The soldier tried taking something important to me, okay? And trust me, I’m paying for it,” Gordon muttered, finally starting to calm down a little from the stress of talking over the phone. It was almost nice to talk to another human now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Figured. Honestly I’m more surprised you called instead of just giving up. If you’re going to ask for a rescue team, forget it. I can barely do shit from here. I just manage the calls and do a few other things.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh-“ Gordon started, suddenly remembering the picture and the reason he called in the first place. “Is there </span>
  <em>
    <span>any </span>
  </em>
  <span>chance you can get internet down here? I don’t care if it’s the shittiest internet or if it’s only for 10 minutes. This is </span>
  <em>
    <span>all </span>
  </em>
  <span>I ask, please,” Gordon begged, starting to anxiously tap the phone as he waited for the voice’s silence to end so he could get an answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please!” Gordon shouted into the phone, before taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>to do this. “I just need enough time to send </span>
  <em>
    <span>one </span>
  </em>
  <span>fucking email. It’s not going to be a cry for help. I swear. I know Black Mesa probably tracks shit or whatever, so I’m not even going to fucking try. Just </span>
  <em>
    <span>please</span>
  </em>
  <span> let me send this one email.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Listen, if I do that I could lose my jo-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And I’m about to lose my damn life!” Gordon snapped again, fully knowing he wasn’t about to die. He had an escape, but he didn’t want his family thinking he disappeared or ran away. Joshua deserved an explanation, even if it was extremely vague or even a lie. He deserved something. “Please.. I have a fucking family. I have a fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>son. </span>
  </em>
  <span>I just want to say one last thing to him. Please,” Gordon begged again, voice now shaking. Silence answered him on the other line, as the other person thought. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...Fine. You have 10 minutes. Don’t mention Black Mesa. I’ll have to discard or edit the email if you do. It’s not my choice.” The voice said, and Gordon could swear he heard a slight hint of pity over the tired regret of the voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you so much,” Gordon breathed out, trying to keep from excitedly waving his hand around, so instead he just bounced his right arm up and down. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t fuck it up,” The voice said, before Gordon heard the familiar sound of a click, and then silence. The man didn’t hesitate to put the phone up and </span>
  <em>
    <span>run </span>
  </em>
  <span>to the computers in the scanner room. He had enough time- 10 minutes was enough time. Just </span>
  <em>
    <span>one </span>
  </em>
  <span>email to her, and that was it. She would hopefully get the email, and read it to Joshua, so they both had an idea of what happened. It didn’t take long at all for Gordon to get into the scanner room, and he almost tripped trying to run in and boot up the computers as fast as possible. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon breathed a sigh of relief, as he stood up from the shitty office chair and pressed his thumb against the computer’s power button, watching the computer’s screen go from the computer’s background wallpaper to black as it powered off. Gordon really underestimated how difficult it was to type and use a computer with one hand, but at this point he was more than satisfied that he was lucky enough to be able to send something. He had to keep it short and sweet, while also being careful not to mention anything that would possibly put Black Mesa in trouble (god knows how much he wanted to write down everything that happened to him, every awful thing he suffered, and he would love to watch Black Mesa get what it deserved, but he couldn’t risk the sirens, or risk Black Mesa somehow tracking and erasing the email). It wasn’t a perfect email, but he couldn’t nick pick when he had only ten minutes and a missing hand. But Gordon was satisfied with it, and that was all he needed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even if he would never see Joshua again, at least he was able to say goodbye. It wasn’t in person, like Gordon would prefer it, but it was better than nothing. Gordon felt a twinge of guilt, as he turned away from the computer and made his way to the bedroom. The empty sound of his feet hitting the metal floor only helping him get lost in his thoughts. A part of him felt horrible for joining the school, since he felt like he was just… leaving Joshua. That he was leaving his own son, and leaving him without a father any further in the kid‘s life. He felt </span>
  <em>
    <span>horrible </span>
  </em>
  <span>for that, but… he didn’t have much of a choice. But just because he didn’t have a choice made it any easier, and that’s what he hated. It also didn’t help that Gordon was still unsure of what to do about the base. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The man‘s thoughts started to slow when he realized he was standing in the doorway to the bedroom. Gordon’s eyes drifted to the shitty old bed. The one with a missing blanket, which was now probably being used again by Benrey. Gordon smiled a little as he thought about the oarfish, before walking over to the cooler that sat tucked against the wall of the room, kneeling down next to it and popping off the lid with his hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Pink to Blue means I care about you.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was probably a little silly to feel so warmed by those words, Gordon assumed as he held out his right arm in a certain way to where it would be much easier to carry many small cans of Sunkist. But even if it was silly, it didn’t change the warm and almost fluttery feeling Gordon got whenever he thought about it. Maybe because it had been so long since Gordon had heard something related to those words, but maybe it was because of the other moments Gordon had grown to often think about. Moments like when Benrey had stayed patient and comforted Gordon when he snapped at the leviathan, making sure to keep Gordon safe when he was immobilized, and hell- letting himself get hurt just so Gordon wouldn’t. The moments like that meant a lot to Gordon, and Gordon clings onto those moments like how a person drowning at sea clings onto a piece of wood floating by. He cared about Benrey a lot, and Gordon also cared about the other members of the school too, but they didn’t give the man the same warm feeling the oarfish siren did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon grabbed the last can of Sunkist from the cooler, struggling not to drop any on the floor, as he got distracted from his thoughts. He would think about the base and what to do with it after some soda with the others. It took an embarrassingly long time for Gordon to stumble back into the Vehicle Dock, still struggling to keep all the stacked cans from rolling out of his arms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Gordon!” Coomer cheerfully greeted, stopping what looked like to be another punching form lesson with Bubby, who just waved. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Mr. Freeman!” Tommy waved with one of his tentacles, the other ones either dipped in the water or carrying something that Darnold was using to work on the potion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aw, yo.. you’re back,” Benrey commented, and just as Gordon figured, he was underneath the blanket. This time the siren was curled in on himself to try and fit as much of himself as he could in the small blanket, which wasn’t nearly enough, since his long and beaten tail still had to dip into the water. “Took long enough.. you- you’re fuckin.. you’re fucking slow, Feetman,” Benrey quickly added on, voice sounding similar to a whine. Gordon rolled his eyes, not even trying to hold back the small smile that stretched its way onto his face, nor attempt to ignore the warm feeling coming back again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Perfect timing, Gordon! The potion is ready!” Darnold said, holding one of the shells that was shaped similar to a mug. Tommy happily nodded, a few tentacles bobbing up and down as Tommy excitedly tapped his fingers on the metal floor. “Yeah!! I helped!” The squid hummed, the yellow stripes on his tentacles and the scales scattered across his face like freckles glowing a little. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Technically, we all helped,” Bubby commented, letting Coomer carefully straighten his back a little and adjust one of his fingers, before the mantis shrimp gave the viperfish a thumbs up of approval. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.. b-but- but I helped mi- mix it!” Tommy mumbled in response, the drumming of his fingers slowing into a tap of a single fist. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How about soda first, then potion?” Gordon asked, as he started to carefully set down two soda cans for every siren. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Soda!” Coomer happily commented, throwing a punch at the air with one of his human arms for Bubby to mimic. Stepping over Benrey’s tail, Gordon gently put down four cans for the two, watching as Bubby threw a punch at the air very similar to Coomer’s. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as the color mantis shrimp’s, but the prideful smile on the viperfish’s face and the “great job, Bubby!” from Coomer told Gordon that it was an improvement. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon smiled at the two, and neither hesitated to snatch a soda from four, crack it open, and immediately start one of their impossible-to-ignore slurping contests. Gordon chuckled softly at them (also noticing how Bubby was winning due to slurping louder than a fucking tornado siren) then made his way to Tommy and Darnold. Tommy’s tentacles carefully dropped what they were holding, setting them on the ground, and curling up a little as Gordon placed down another 4 drinks next to the squid and octopus. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks!” Tommy hummed, grabbing a can with his hand and using a tentacle to hand the other to Darnold, who was carefully putting the potion on the ground attempting not to spill it. “Thank you, Gordon,” Darnold happily said, smiling brightly as he took the Sunkist from Tommy’s tentacle. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon stepped past them, and made his way to the massive oarfish siren currently staring him down with wide pupils, and Gordon couldn’t help but smile a little at them. “Make some room, asshole. It’s fucking freezing without that suit,” Gordon teased, setting down the remaining four sodas next to Benrey, as the oarfish’s face scrunched up and glared at Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...nooo..” the leviathan whined, grabbing on to the edge of the blanket and wrapping it tighter around himself similar to a small child. Gordon responded with another roll of his eyes as he sat down next to Benrey, and quickly yanked the blanket from the siren when they didn’t expect it. “Thank you~” Gordon playfully sang, pulling the blanket over himself. There was still enough to cover Benrey and a little bit of his tail, but the siren still looked pretty upset. “Mmneugh” they made a noise similar to how a child mocks someone, crossing their arms and curling in a little tighter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon laughed, before grabbing a soda and handing it to Benrey, who reluctantly took it. Gordon ignored Benrey biting into the can and loudly sucking the Sunkist out like a fucking vampire (also giving a competitive glance to Coomer and Bubby), as Gordon grabbed a soda for himself because he fucking deserved one. Gordon couldn’t help but lean against Benrey, crossing his legs and basically snuggling into the rough skin of the leviathan as he opened the can and heard the satisfying click and fizz. He heard a coughing noise and looked up to see Benrey choking on the drink, and tried to stifle back a laugh. Only a mere chuckle came through the scientist’s lips. “You good, man?” Gordon asked, as Benrey tried to regain his composure. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey felt that familiar warm feeling building in his mouth, and quickly put his soda down and attempted to slap a hand over his mouth. He completely ignored Gordon’s question, and when he felt the scientist’s warm fingers intertwine with his own that were tightly gripped into a fist. He felt the warm feeling start to escalate into a burning at the back of his throat, as he heard Gordon’s now concerned and worried voice ask, “Benrey?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The siren didn’t want to sweet voice with Tommy around, and he knew what would happen. He would read it as I love you, and the moment would be ruined. The extreme burning at the back of his throat started to feel like his mouth was lit on fire as Gordon tightened his grip on Benrey’s hand to comfort him. The leviathan failed to hold back the sweet voice any longer, as he started to cough and hack out very bright and glowing balls of pink and blue. Benrey winced a little, leaning over and letting Gordon gently pat his back as the last few orbs slipped from his lips. “...you okay now?” Gordon asked, squeezing the siren’s hand in an attempt to comfort him. Benrey nodded, relieved that the burning stopped once the warm lights of the sweet voice left. Gordon looked up at the beautiful pink and blue ones that still lingered and danced in the air.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“O-Oh! I.. I can read this!” Tommy excitedly said, smiling at the bright lights. Benrey frowned at that and leaned a little onto Gordon, who glanced at the oarfish before looking back up to the lights. Gordon opened his mouth to say he already knew, but cut off by Tommy going, “Pink to blue, means I lo- like you!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well that caught Gordon off guard. Gordon paused for a moment, brows furrowing. “Ah, young love!” Coomer hummed, before elbowing Bubby a little. Gordon looked towards Benrey, who was looking down to where the helmet shadow made it impossible to see the sirens eyes. That comfortable warm feeling built up in Gordon’s stomach, and he could swear he felt it move to his cheeks. Benrey’s hand tightened around Gordon, as he didn’t say anything. “...I would ask if that’s true, but.. I’m guessing the colors don’t lie?” Gordon attempted to lighten the mood, trying to make Benrey feel better after getting his feelings for Gordon thrown out like that. Speaking of, Gordon was trying his best to push the “holy shit holy shit” thoughts and the actual reality of having a person love him to that extent for the first time in forever. Gordon wasn’t paying to the others at the moment, he was focusing entirely on the tense and uncomfortable siren next to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fuck- how did Benrey usually calm down Gordon? Gordon struggled to try and remember as he squeezed Benrey’s rough hand, and leaned against the siren’s scales. He hoped Benrey liked physical comfort as much as Gordon did. Gordon started running through the moments where Benrey had comforted him. Most of it was done with the siren's soothing songs, but Benrey also tended to curl protectively around Gordon. Gordon wasn’t a singer, but he wasn’t awful. He could stay in tune decently but he had no real talent. Well… he would try his best. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...come, come, come along now,” Gordon started singing, cringing a little at how his voice was softly off-tune. He watched as Benrey looked up, extremely confused but mostly shocked. Gordon took that chance to do the closest he could to a protective curl for the oarfish, and pulled him into a tight yet gentle hug. Gordon tapped his foot to the beat of the song, struggling to remember the lyrics. “Run away from the hum-drum. We’ll go to a place that is safe from greed, anger, and boredom,” The scientist continued, feeling as Benrey started to relax a little. He hadn’t said anything or made any noise, he was just silent. He could vaguely hear the others commenting on Gordon singing, but he wasn’t paying enough attention to hear what they actually said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ll dance and sing to sundown. And feast with abandon,” Gordon sang a little louder as he continued to tap the rhythm with his foot, remembering the song a little better. “We‘ll sleep when morning comes, and we’ll rise by the sound of the bird drums,” Gordon finished, feeling as Benrey hesitantly hugged him back, and rested his chin on Gordon’s shoulders. Gordon honestly couldn’t remember the rest of the lyrics to the song, so he couldn’t sing anymore, but he hoped that Benrey would get the message. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...kind of cringe, Feetman,” Benrey muttered, holding onto Gordon a little tighter, but being careful to make sure his claws didn’t cut through his shirt. “..but thanks,” he added. Gordon kind of expected for the siren to let go, but was pleasantly surprised when he didn’t. It was nice. “...so…” Gordon started, feeling butterflies in his stomach and a burning in his cheeks. “...you really like me, huh?” He asked, an unsure tone to his voice. None of this felt real, he felt like he was about to wake up from a dream that he never wanted to end. He didn’t know what was more believable at this point: the fluttery feeling in his stomach getting caused by somebody who genuinely cared about them and loved them, or that he was about to be turned into a fucking siren. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..mn..” Benrey mumbled, leaning a little more into Gordon’s hug, a much more calm and soothing hum slipping out as softer orbs of pink and blue started to float into the air once again. Gordon took that as a yes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, man,” Gordon said, still not moving from the hug. Despite Benrey’s rough skin and how cold he was, he was surprisingly comfortable. “Don’t have any special uh… light orbs to show you, but… I like you too, dude,” Gordon mumbled, as he felt Benrey start to pull from the hug. Suppressing a groan of protest, Gordon let go and looked at Benrey, who was now staring at him. Benrey’s pupil’s were… incredibly large, and it reminded Gordon of when a cat is either playing with a toy or high off fucking catnip. Benrey mumbled something quiet that Gordon couldn’t understand, since it just sounded like a bunch of random mumbles. Honestly Gordon was pretty sure Benrey didn’t even say anything coherent, but he was also pretty certain the siren struggled with communication a lot. Not really knowing what else to do, Gordon smiled softly at Benrey, who mimicked the gesture. It felt like it was just the two of them, Gordon thought as he leaned against Benrey’s side, gently holding his hand again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you two dumbasses done?” Bubby shouted, rolling his eyes. Coomer lightly punched him in the arm, glaring at the viperfish. Gordon rolled his eyes, and shifted his attention back towards the oarfish, who had a slight red tint on their cheeks. Gordon turned back to Bubby and Coomer and nodded, and out of the corner of his eyes he could see Benrey do the same. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think so,” Gordon added to the nod, seeing Benrey pick up the soda can and start sucking out the drink like before.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, ok. Now, what the actual fuck was that?” Bubby questioned, tilting his head to the side a little. Gordon’s nose scrunched up a little in confusion and looked around, noticing how the other sirens seemed pretty curious about… whatever Bubby wanted to know. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“About what?” Gordon asked, letting go of Benrey’s hand so he could take a sip of his own soda. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The fucking… things you said. What the fuck was that?” Bubby asked, and Gordon couldn’t help but laugh. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You mean the song?” Gordon chuckles, taking another sip of the soda.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>That </span>
  </em>
  <span>was a song?” Bubby said, crossing his arms and raising a brow like he didn’t believe Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was pretty strange, Gordon,” Coomer added.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What! It’s- it’s a fucking song! I was singing! Fuckin- sirens are known for singing how do you NOT know!” Gordon shouted, having to put down his soda so he could wave his arms around in confusion and make gestures. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Songs don’t have words,” Darnold chuckled, tossing his empty soda can from hand to hand, not even looking at Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They do!” Gordon shouted, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of the argument. “They fucking do!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..nope.” Benrey mumbled, elbowing Gordon with a smug and toothy grin. Gordon glared at the siren, narrowing his eyes and staring daggers into the leviathan’s wide yet relaxed eyes. Benrey’s playful smirk only grew wider, before he loudly started to suck out the soda again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I- is my singing </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>bad that you all couldn’t tell?” Gordon joked, putting his hand on his head and running it through his hair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep!” Bubby commented.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I- I liked it!” Tommy cut in before Gordon could react to Bubby’s comment, and Gordon gestured to Tommy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Thank you, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Tommy,” Gordon signed, still struggling not to burst into laughter. He didn’t know why this conversation was so entertaining to him, but it always felt fucking great to have conversations like this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Still fucking weird,” Bubby continued to tease Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s a fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>song!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon started to laugh, shouting out the words in between the small chuckles. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“humans are weiiiird, bro,” Benrey snickered, before biting into the now empty can of soda with his teeth, ripping it apart and eating it (at this point Gordon wasn’t surprised). </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay- can we just- can we just agree to disagree?” Gordon wheezed out, struggling to regain his composure. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not if you’re fucking wrong!” Bubby shouted, causing Gordon to curl in on himself a little due to the laughter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The argument continued for god knows how long, until Gordon decided to just give up and agree that songs weren’t supposed to have words (when they totally fucking did). After that, everyone seemed to go back to what they were doing and go on their own conversations while they finished the last sodas. Coomer was letting Bubby practice his punches on his arm, Darnold and Tommy were both fascinated and rambling on about the other’s glowing patterns, while Gordon and Benrey were still leaning on each other (basically cuddling at this point) while occasionally commenting on something stupid. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, have you decided on what to do with the base?” Darnold eventually said, setting down his finished can of Sunkist. Gordon signed, slumping down a little on the floor, not wanting to talk about this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nope,” he sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I still think we should destroy it,” Bubby commented, and Gordon threw his empty can at the viperfish. It landed in the water, and Bubby stuck his tongue out at Gordon like a child.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Break it to pieces, Gordon!” Coomer cheerfully added on, and Gordon groaned in frustration. He still had no clue if he wanted to destroy it or keep it standing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to but… I’m not sure if we should?” Gordon tried to explain, running a hand through his hair, brows furrowed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Noooo..” Benrey whined, leaning heavily on top of Gordon. “Cringe metal.. metal home is lame, bro.. got to fuckin uhhh… beat it..” Gordon attempted to push off the large leviathan, only resulting in the siren giving an annoyed grumble and backing off the man. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Listen- I hate it </span>
  <em>
    <span>just </span>
  </em>
  <span>as much as you do, probably MORE, but..” Gordon trailed off, holding his head in frustration, before dropping his arms to his side. He felt Benrey’s cold fingers intertwine with his own, and despite how freezing their hands were, it made Gordon’s feel warm. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But what, Mr. Freeman?” Tommy asked, cocking his head to the side, the yellow scales scattered around his face glowing with confusion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There’s… there were others before me…” Gordon started to explain, squeezing Benrey’s hand and leaning against the siren’s shoulder, as he remembered Dr. Birdwell’s picture. “And I’m.. almost certain that.. most of them didn’t make it out. I- I don’t want to think of how.. but… i found some shit.. that I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t want at the bottom of the fucking ocean.. it was some personal crap and I’m not sure if there’s more…” Gordon rambled, talking slow and quietly. He took one look at the sirens around him and could already tell they were still confused.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well… there’s probably just going to be more people be more people if we don’t do anything,” Darnold suggested, looking at Gordon with a forced smile on his face, hoping it would calm Gordon a little. It didn’t. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know- but…” Gordon stuttered, struggling to find out how he could word the reason </span>
  <em>
    <span>why. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But nothing. Gordon, we care about what you have to say, but… do you really think that we should leave this place alone? I… don’t know much about it, but… i doubt G-Man would let any other humans join,” Darnold tried to explain, tentacles anxiously curling in on themselves. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s got a point, Gordon,” Coomer added, an observant and surprisingly serious look on the mantis shrimp’s face. Gordon paused, squeezing Benrey’s hand a little tighter. He heard the soft hum of the mentioned siren quietly singing, and could see the faint pink and blue light from the corner of his eyes. Gordon took a deep breath, and felt his body relax a little, not as tense as it was before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine… but I’m going to do it my way..” Gordon breathed out, voice still carrying a slight tone of uncertainty. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Better not be anything boring,” Bubby scoffed, watching Gordon as the man let go of Benrey’s hand and started to stand up, pushing the rest of the blanket towards the oarfish. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“don’t be.. uh.. lame, bro.. don’t be cringe,” Benrey whined again, the glowing balls starting to disappear into nothing as he stopped his singing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t answer (unless you counted the fucking hundredth roll of the eyes Gordon did that day), and made his way back to the room with the machines. He made sure to keep his eyes glued to the floor so he wouldn’t have to see the phones on the way there. Gordon made it to the room fast (for once), and took a look at the machines that were basically screaming to be tampered with. Drawing his foot back, Gordon decided to lean into the machines’ order. With all the force he could muster, Gordon quickly kicked the pressure machine (or at least that’s what he thinks it is), aiming for the sensitive area of the panel. Two hisses filled the nearly silent room, a hiss of pain from Gordon who cursed and drew his foot back, and a hiss from the panel. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After bouncing in place to soothe the stinging pain from his foot, Gordon looked at the panel. Nothing more than a slight dent. The man groaned, dragging his hand across his face in frustration. Then an idea hit. If this was a cartoon, there’d certainly be a cheesy lightbulb that popped above the man’s head, as he ran to the glass hall, searching for the familiar weapon he’d grown to be disgusted by. He still hated that fucking crossbow, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>maybe, </span>
  </em>
  <span>just </span>
  <em>
    <span>maybe, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he could recycle to weapon into a thing of harm and misery to something useful and good. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon noticed the dreaded crossbow on the floor, and didn’t hesitate to grab it. It was empty, but thank god out of the few things the man could remember, he could remember the bolts being somewhere around or on his bed. Gordon wasted no time to quickly walk to the bedroom, the crossbow neatly tucked underneath his right arm. He wanted to make this as quick as he possibly could, since the longer he held the crossbow the more disgusted he felt with himself, like it was contaminating him with some sort of disease. Gordon soon made it to the bedroom, and started to quickly look around the room. He saw the crossbow’s tranquilizer bolts almost immediately, laying right next to the bed on the floor. Gordon couldn’t help but cringe, getting reminded of the time one of those pierced through Benrey’s scales. A shiver ran up Gordon’s spine, but he wouldn’t let it stop him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon tried to avoid looking directly at the bolts as he grabbed them, tucking the bundle of bolts underneath his right arm right with their best horrid friend. In the process of Gordon playing the world's worst staring contest with the bolts, he noticed something not too far from the bolts. A picture. Even from the distance Gordon was, he could recognize the picture as the one with him and Joshua. That familiar pit of guilt formed again in Gordon’s stomach, as he stared at the photo. He hesitantly walked over to it, gently grabbing off the ground and staring at it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a pretty shitty photo. There was some dirt on the camera when he took it and the photo was pretty hazy, but honestly Gordon didn’t care. The picture was pretty simple. It was just Gordon posing with Joshua, Joshua pulling his lips with his fingers to make his mouth look wide to make a silly face, while Gordon made himself cross eyed and gave Joshua bunny ears. It was simple and well… silly but it’s what Gordon liked about it. The photo wasn’t too old either, it was when Joshua was about 7. They were at the beach when he took it, and he could vaguely see the waves in the background. He remembered Joshua being terrified of the ocean, running away from the waves whenever they got too close, and was even too afraid to get water to make a more sturdy sand castle (seriously, Gordon caught Joshua pouring some of the bottled water he brought on the castle to make to hold better because he refused to go near the waves). It was a simple day. It was just a day at the beach with his son.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>God, Gordon would give anything to be able to do that again. Gordon thought back on the email he sent, and signed. He really hoped Joshua would be able to understand it enough. He doubted it, but he didn't want Joshua to think he never wanted to see him again. Gordon wiped his eyes, sniffling a bit as he felt tears form. Taking the photo with him, Gordon started his way to the scanning room, and started his fight against the tears and growing out of pure guilt. It felt like a giant lead ball in his stomach and he hated it. It took the man a little longer to get to the scanning room, since he totally didn’t have to keep slowing to wipe his eyes (which was a pain in the ass when you had glasses). Gordon dropped the crossbow and bolts on the desk without thinking, before reaching behind the old monitor and finding Dr. Birdwell’s picture. It was still framed, and Gordon doubted it would keep it completely safe, but the doubt didn’t stop him from sliding his picture in with Dr. Birdwell’s picture. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon grabbed the picture frame containing now both pictures, and tucked it back behind the monitor. He knew it wouldn’t keep it protected, but it made him feel a little better. Gordon wiped his eyes again, letting out a single choked sob, before turning back to the crossbow and bolts, picking them up again and heading back to the engine room (machine room? At this point Gordon didn’t care what it was called). The heavy pit still didn’t leave, and Gordon had a feeling it wouldn’t for a while. Gordon eventually got to the engine room, and started the very irritating struggle that was loading the crossbow with one hand. Most of the bolts were on the floor, while Gordon had to mostly rely on his teeth and single hand to load the weapon of misery, using his right arm to try and balance it and keep it still. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a few frustrating minutes of failure and struggle, Gordon finally got the first tranq bolt in the crossbow. He grabbed it, leaving the remaining bolts on the floor, trying to keep his arm from shaking as he aimed it at the various machinery in the room. Struggling to keep the crossbow aimed, Gordon eventually fired it, hearing a hiss of the machinery getting punctured by the bolt. Gordon blinked, shocked and still trembling a little. Despite his hatred for the weapon in his hand, that felt </span>
  <em>
    <span>good. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It was nice being able to finally put an end to this shit. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Crouching down, Gordon grabbed another bolt and repeated the infuriating process of loading the damned thing. Once it was ready, he aimed it at another panel in the room. “This is for ruining my fucking life,” Gordon muttered, shooting the crossbow and watching the bolt dig into the machinery. Gordon had no idea how long the base would actually last with machinery basically broken, but he knew it wouldn’t last for long. That didn’t stop the man from grabbing another bolt from the scattered bundle on the floor and loading up the weapon again. Laughing, Gordon shot the third bolt into the machinery. He smiled and chuckled when he heard the satisfying hiss. It may have ruined his life, but it ruined his human life. He… he may never get to see his son again, but… at least he’d be with people who cared for him, and honestly that was something he didn’t have previously. Gordon continued the process of loading the remaining crossbow bolts and firing them into the sensitive panels, the pit of guilt in his stomach feeling a little lighter with every shot. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It took a long while until Gordon got to the last bolt, and he had to admit, he was already feeling slightly light-headed. Which meant there was no hesitation as the man started to load up the last bolt. Once it was tucked safely into the crossbow, Gordon stood up and turned around, walking towards the glass hallway. He knew what he was saving the last bolt for since he fired the first bolt into that machine. And eventually he found it, that first fucking crack in the glass that Benrey had made whenever he was attempting to kill Gordon. It… was not a good memory, if Gordon was being honest, but at this point nothing would stop him. “And this is for Dr. Birdwell and all the other lives this shithole has taken,” Gordon muttered, squinting as he started to aim in the spot the glass was weakest and the cracks were strongest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And Gordon fired, watching the bolt puncture the glass hallway and have the sound of glass cracking fill his ears. Immediately after the bolt was fired, Gordon could already see water leaking in very </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>slowly through some cracks. The scientist tossed the crossbow to the side, hearing the noise of impact but not bothering to look in its direction. He walked closer to where the bolt was stuck on the glass wall, and tightly wrapped his fingers around it. Scowling at the glass of the base, Gordon started tugging harshly at the bolt attempting to rip it out of the wall. A few harsh tugs and grunts from the man, and the bolt released itself from the wall and Gordon threw it to the side with the bow. A small hole was left where the bolt punctured, leaving a steady stream of water to flow into the base. He was surprised the base wasn’t collapsing in on itself yet, but Gordon had a feeling if he wasted any more time he would be able to see it far too close for comfort. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So, Gordon made his way back to the Vehicle Dock, panting from just how much </span>
  <em>
    <span>work </span>
  </em>
  <span>that was. He was exhausted already, his arms sore and stinging with slight pain, but it wasn’t over. He still had one last thing to do. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m back,” Gordon breathed out, still taking deep breaths and leaning against the wall to catch his breath, fucking exhausted. It was surprising how much work it took to load a crossbow with one arm. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Welcome back, Gordon!” Coomer happily said, waving with his mantis arm. Bubby was laying in the mantis shrimp’s lap, and looked over at Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“About fucking time,” the viperfish teased. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey Mr. Freeman! A-are you okay? You look tired..” Tommy anxiously asked, tilting his head a little bit. The poor squid looked worried. Gordon nodded, and instead of answering the squid’s question verbally he just took a deep breath to try to even his breathing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Idiot fucking uh… uhh… fuckin Feetman did a.. did a lame cringe thing.. fuckin- chicken hat,” Benrey muttered, still wrapped up in the blanket. Gordon weakly chuckled at that, before sliding down the wall and sitting down. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Gordon!” Darnold called out, grabbing the scientist’s attention. The octopus was holding the “potion”. “Are you ready now?” The octopus asked, tilting his head a little. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know what? Yeah… I am,” Gordon said, holding his hand out for Darnold to give him the potion. The octopus gently put the shell containing the drink in his hand, and Gordon tried not to think about what was in the potion. He was ready for this. He just hoped Joshua would make it fine without him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So do I just drink it?” Gordon asked, looking at it. It looked like Powerade but with a slight glow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep! Every last drop!” Darnold hummed, and Gordon gave him a suspicious look.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Every last drop? What- what happens if I don’t drink it all?” Gordon asked. Tommy shrugged in response.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t want to know,” Bubby commented with a toothy grin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Drink it all, Gordon!” Coomer said, way too happily for comfort.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“don’t fuck up,” was all Benrey added. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“This is going to hurt like hell isn’t it?” Gordon sighed, suddenly not wanting to go through with this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Probably,” Bubby shrugged, still laying in Coomer’s lap. The strong mantis shrimp arms were neatly  crossed on top of Bubby. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“W- w- w- we don’t know! This- this is th- the first time we’ve done this,” Tommy commented, looking over to Darnold who nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just know how to do it. You just drink the potion and then go in the water,” the octopus explained, gesturing to the cold pool in the middle of the room. Gordon shuddered, thinking about everything that had happened whenever he dove in there. Almost drowning, having to fight Benrey, and almost drowning </span>
  <em>
    <span>again. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is going to fucking suck,” Gordon cringed, before deciding it was probably best to get it over with. He brought the shell to his lips, and started to drink.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It tasted exactly like Powerade. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What the fuck?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon decided not to think about it too much, as he just let the potion slip down his throat. It didn’t take long at all for him to finish it, and honestly Gordon expected </span>
  <em>
    <span>much </span>
  </em>
  <span>worse. He put down the shell (but not after a quick look to make sure he got every drop), and wiped his mouth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now get your ass in the water,” Bubby said, pushing himself off of Coomer and carefully using the ladder to get into the water himself. The others started to get into the water as well, either just by diving in or using the emergency ladders, not hesitating to go under to wait for Gordon. Benrey was the last one in the water, hesitant at first, but carefully lowered himself in, cringing a little at the spike of pain at first, but still clinging onto the edge of the Vehicle Dock. Gordon stared at the water, the taste of Powerade still lingering in his mouth. He didn’t have the suit. He was still terrified of it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..want to get a chicken hat? or do you want to come in.. friend?” Benrey asked, looking at Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah- just- one second..” Gordon said, but didn’t move. He felt like he couldn’t. He still felt light-headed, and he wasn’t sure if that was from the oxygen beginning to leave the base, the exhaustion, or the potion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..gimme your hand.. bro,” Benrey said, as he offered out his hand. Gordon paused for a moment, taking a second to quickly observe Benrey. He was a little tense, and his eyes were entirely focused on Gordon. His apathetic expression matched his bored eyes, but Gordon knew him well enough to tell it was fake. His pupils were still just as wide as they normally were. Gordon felt the warmth he felt earlier, as he grabbed Benrey’s hand with his left one, still slightly uncomfortable, but he could trust Benrey. Hell- Gordon still loved the siren. He trusted him with his life. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t feel the siren inpaintenly tug at his wrist as Gordon started to slowly climb into the water, tending and hissing in pain a little at the feeling of just his legs dipping in the water. The water felt like a fucking hydraulic press crushing his legs. Apparently Benrey must have noticed that, because the next thing he knew the leviathan very gently wrapped an arm around his back and underneath his knees to carry him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..you’re so light.. the fuck bro..” Benrey muttered, confused. Gordon rolled his eyes as Benrey basically carried him bridal style, wrapping his left arm around the siren’s rough neck, and carefully dipping his right arm in the ocean water. He hissed a little, feeling the crushing pain again, but didn’t take it out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You ready, bro.. shits gonna.. shits gonna get fuckin intense I think,” Benrey asked, easily keeping Gordon above the surface. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.. I think so?” Gordon said, an unsure tone of his voice. Benrey nodded. “aight.. cool,” the siren answered, letting Gordon take a deep breath of air (probably the last air he’s probably ever going to breathe) before ducking underwater with Gordon. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. When the bell, it tolls for me?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Once Gordon was underwater, he couldn’t help but dig his nails a little into Benrey’s back, as the heavy pressure of the water felt like it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>crushing </span>
  </em>
  <span>him. He felt like he was thrown into a trash compactor, as he tried to suppress a scream of pain by burying his face in Benrey’s chest as the leviathan carried him a little deeper to the others. It hurt- </span>
  <em>
    <span>it hurt- it hurt so fucking badly. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Like every bone and muscle in his body was screeching out in agony. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to take a guess and say he’s not doing too well,” Darnold said as Benrey swam closer to the others, worried and concerned eyes looking at the trembling Gordon in his arms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nope-“ Benrey quietly muttered, trying to suppress the pain in his voice and on his face, only barely succeeding in keeping the poker face. “Hes- hes really clawing at my- fuckin- back right now bro-“ He quickly spat out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry- I’m sorry-“ Gordon struggled to speak, his voice extremely difficult to hear through his groans of pain and just the fact that he couldn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>breathe. </span>
  </em>
  <span>There was no air, only water, and it was filling up his throat, and lungs- </span>
  <em>
    <span>and it fucking hurt- it wouldn’t stop. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When’s it going to start?” Coomer swam a bit closer, only for Benrey to put his tail in front of the mantis shrimp protectively, shaking his head. It clicked inside Coomer’s head that Gordon needed space and not to be surrounded by a bunch of worried sirens, and he nodded. Darnold shrugged, muttering a quiet “hell if I know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey felt Gordon start to shift, as the scientist moved his arms from being wrapped around Benrey, to his own throat. It felt like his throat was burning as Gordon couldn’t breathe. He was choking on all the fucking water, and he wanted to swim back up </span>
  <em>
    <span>desperately </span>
  </em>
  <span>to the base and get some </span>
  <em>
    <span>air </span>
  </em>
  <span>but he couldn’t- he could barely </span>
  <em>
    <span>move, </span>
  </em>
  <span>his body felt like it was getting crushed. It didn’t help that his throat hurt on the inside </span>
  <em>
    <span>and </span>
  </em>
  <span>outside. On the inside, it wasn’t only just burning but it was also itchy, it felt </span>
  <em>
    <span>awful </span>
  </em>
  <span>like he had a fucking rash and bug bites on the back of his throat. On the outside, it felt like somebody was dragging a knife through the sides on his neck. Gordon clawed at his throat with his remaining hand, trying not to shout in pain as it </span>
  <em>
    <span>burned, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and </span>
  <em>
    <span>itched, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and it hurt so fucking badly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Grab his fucking arms, dumbasses!” Bubby shouted, as he watched Gordon attempt to tear and harshly scratch at his throat. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I- I got it..” Gordon could barely hear Tommy’s worried and terrified voice, as he tried to focus on scratching the burning itch on his throat. It felt like the skin was tearing and he couldn’t tell if it was on the inside or outside of his throat at this point. What he could notice was when two shaky tentacles wrapped gently around his hand and arm, pulling them away from his throat. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He clenched his teeth to try and not scream from the blinding pain as something cut into his neck and the itch in his throat, but it just felt like his teeth were screaming against it as they grinded against each other. He needed to </span>
  <em>
    <span>scratch </span>
  </em>
  <span>his throat, but the weight of the water </span>
  <em>
    <span>crushing </span>
  </em>
  <span>him wouldn’t even let him even try to fight back against Tommy’s gentle grip. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...uh… bring him back up? please?” Benrey quitely muttered, looking up from the writhing Gordon in his arms, and around at the others. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying at this point, his ears were ringing and throbbing with pain. His teeth felt like they were about to fall out, and the back of his throat ached with a stinging pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We can’t! I don’t know what that would do,” Darnold said, tense and uncomfortable. His gaze was worried and full of guilt as he stared directly at Gordon, watching him suffer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s fucking dying!” Bubby lashed out, baring his teeth like a dog and glaring at Darnold. Coomer gently grabbed onto his arm to keep him from doing anything, and shook his head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His whole body felt like it was being crushed and stabbed simultaneously. His eyes ached and stung, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>god </span>
  </em>
  <span>if Tommy wasn’t holding his arms back Gordon would be attempting to claw them out. He was trembling as it felt like his skin was ripping like fabric all over his body, but he realized something: he could breathe. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“O-Oh! Look!” Tommy shouted, pointing towards Gordon, whose face was still twisted in agony. Everyone’s attention turned to where the squid was pointing, and saw </span>
  <em>
    <span>gills </span>
  </em>
  <span>on the sides of Gordon’s neck. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t get much time to celebrate being able to breathe again, before he shouted in pain at the new </span>
  <em>
    <span>burning </span>
  </em>
  <span>pain stemming from his waist and below, along with his back and spine. He tried to tug against Tommy’s tentacles, cause he couldn’t stand the pain in his back, in his eyes, the back of his throat, </span>
  <em>
    <span>everywhere. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He managed to move his arms a little, but it wasn’t nearly enough to beat the squid’s grip. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Benrey, can’t you use your voice to calm Gordon down?” Coomer asked, anxiously rubbing his hands together as he watched Gordon with an anxious expression on his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bro- it does- it doesn’t fuckin- it doesn’t fucking du- get rid of pain,” Benrey struggled to spit out, not even glancing at the mantis shrimp as he get a tight grasp on Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Looks like he’s finally making a little more fucking progress,” Bubby pointed to Gordon’s hand, which now had webbing inbetween the fingers and how his nails were more similar to claws, as he forced a more angry tone into his voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..hair is uh… the hair is different, too…” Benrey commented, since Gordon’s hair was lightly brushing against his chest and neck. Before, the hair felt smooth and light, but now it felt a lot more rough, and almost slimy. “...and some skin,” the leviathan quickly added, noticing how the skin on Gordon’s sides was a lot more rough when he held onto the squirming man a little tighter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon turned in Benrey’s arms, struggling to get the burning pain in his legs to calm down, it felt like they were getting simultaneously crushed in a trash compactor and being melted by acid.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s- it’s going to be fine.. Mr. Freeman! You’re- you’re- you’re doing good!” Tommy shouted, wrapping another pair of tentacles around Gordon’s trembling arms as the scientist attempted to struggle. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The teeth are done!” Coomer pointed out whenever Gordon shouted in pain again, noticing how his teeth were much sharper. He also could swear he saw something else in the back of Gordon’s throat, but he couldn’t see well enough before he shut his mouth again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tail is… it’s getting there,” Darnold quietly said, cringing a little. It… didn’t look pretty. The skin was tearing and looked like it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>melting </span>
  </em>
  <span>together on Gordon’s legs, along with a few scales starting to pop up. “How’s he holding up?” The octopus asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...not good.. big bad,” Benrey said, struggling to keep Gordon </span>
  <em>
    <span>still. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He was terrified that Gordon would only hurt himself anymore from how much he was fucking thrashing around now. “...calm down? calm down, please?” Benrey attempted to say in a soothing tone, mostly concern slipping through instead. Gordon barely responded as he attempted to curl up a little, only to cry out in pain as the skin on his legs melted together and the skin teared to reveal red- no yellow- the red is fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>blood- </span>
  </em>
  <span>it revealed yellow scales underneath. Benrey cringed a little as he felt himself shiver, thinking about the amount of pain Gordon is in. He turned back to the man, and moved his hand to the back of his head and gingerly moved It to where Gordon was facing him. “...look at me.. open eyes. come on, bro,” Benrey said, his voice shaking a little as he thought of Gordon’s lifeless state that wasn’t too long ago. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t tell if he was more relieved or shocked when he saw Gordon open his eyes. His corneas were yellow (if you didn’t count the redness in the corners), and the pupils were slim almost exactly like Benrey’s. He didn’t get the chance to look for emotion or anything else in Gordon’s eyes before Gordon shut them again, cringing and clenching his teeth in pain as the transformation continued.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..how much longer?” Benrey quietly muttered, desperately looking between the other sirens. Coomer and Bubby were arguing over something (Benrey assumed it was whether or not to bring Gordon back to the base or not), while Tommy was mostly focused on keeping Gordon restrained and safe. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tail’s getting there..” Darnold said, thankful the most of the disgusting part was over with the tail, watching as a small black spotted pattern began to form over the yellow scales. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The f-f-fins are fo-forming!” Tommy said, not noticing how Gordon had stopped struggling. He watched as the dorsal fin slowly grew from Gordon’s back with a pretty painful sounding ripping sound.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We need to take him back to the fucking base!” Bubby shouted. “Most of it is over!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, my dear Bubby, but we aren’t sure what will happen to Gordon if we do,” Coomer told the viperfish, holding out a mantis shrimp arm in front of him to keep him from getting to Gordon, crossing his human arms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s in fucking pain! That’s not GOOD!” Bubby angrily shouted, noticing how Gordon wasn’t thrashing around anymore. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...look at me.. look please? open eyes again? please, bro?” Benrey began asking again, also starting to feel how Gordon wasn’t nearly as lively as he was moments before. He felt his heart twist when there was no response from Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think it’s done?” Darnold said, an unsure tone to his voice once he watched the last few black scales settle in place on Gordon’s tail (which was surprisingly short).</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Get him back to the fucking base, you dumbasses!” Bubby screamed, gesturing wildly at the now unconscious siren in Benrey’s arms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...open eyes- open eyes- look at me.. look at me bro- come on- this is cringe- not funny,” Benrey started panicking a little, as he started to lightly shake Gordon a little in a poor attempt to get a reaction from the unconscious siren. It didn’t work. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Freeman?” Tommy asked, unwrapping his tentacles from Gordon’s arms, and swimming a little closer to Benrey and Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is- is he breathing?” Darnold stammered, worry and fear lacing his voice as the blue rings on his tentacles pulsed with anxiety and concern.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, I’m aware that this… isn’t the best situation, but we should do our best to stay calm,” Coomer said, hands anxiously rubbing his hands together as he found himself unable to look away from Gordon’s closed </span>
  <em>
    <span>lifeless </span>
  </em>
  <span>eyes. Everyone’s attention snapped towards the mantis shrimp, getting a mix of reactions.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“CALM DOWN? HES FUCKING UNCONSCIOUS!” Bubby screamed, fins spreading out in a mix of rage and panic. His claws were balled into fists, digging into his own skin. The light lure coming off of his back illuminated with hostility as he shouted at Coomer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I- I agree with Mr. Coomer.. w-we should stay calm..” Tommy stammered, obviously uncomfortable and forcing himself to try and stay calm. He was doing a poor job at it, as his long tentacles anxiously twisted around each other and into knots. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey tuned out the other sirens arguing, as his eyes desperately scanned Gordon for a sign of life. He didn’t know much about humans, but one thing he did know from his experience with them, was that they sometimes would pass out due to pain, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>god </span>
  </em>
  <span>Benrey really hoped that this is what was happening. Then he saw it: A few bubbles slipping through the new gills on Gordon’s neck. </span>
  <em>
    <span>He was alive.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...base now. we uhhh… gotta bring him back, bros. he’s breathing. saw uh… saw some bubbles..” Benrey quickly rambled, trying his best to continue keeping calm. Everyone’s attention turned to him (he even got Bubby to cut off while he was yelling at Darnold), and there was a brief moment of silence. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Finally some fucking common sense!” Bubby grumbled, beginning to swim towards Benrey and Gordon, and grabbing the end of Gordon’s new tail. “I’ll help bring him up since you dumbasses didn’t want to.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey nodded and began to quickly swim straight up to the base and keeping his tail mostly straight (it made swimming easier for him, even if he kept it slightly curled or swirled most of the time). It didn’t take long at all for Benrey and Bubby to drag Gordon’s limp body onto the Vehicle Dock, the new siren being incredibly light. The others quickly surfaced anxiously watching, not knowing what to say, except for Benrey.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You guys should uh- go get some food.. or something.. for when Feetman wakes up..” the oarfish suggested, easily pulling himself onto the (slightly flooded) Vehicle Dock, and sitting next to the unconscious Gordon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...fine,” Bubby muttered, giving a quick sad glance towards Gordon before gesturing for Coomer to follow. The mantis shrimp looked at Gordon, then at Bubby. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think it’s best if I stay here. We don’t need too much food, and…” Coomer glanced towards Benrey, who’s attention was entirely focused on Gordon, then back at Bubby with an almost guilty look in his eyes. “Benrey is still.. quite injured and I don’t want to risk anything dreadful happening,” he continued to explain. Bubby’s brows furrowed, before shaking his head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then I’m staying too,” the viperfish crossed his arms stubbornly, eyes glancing towards Benrey’s many gashes, bite marks, and cuts for a moment before looking back to Coomer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bubby, no. We don’t want to overwhelm Gordon too much when he wakes up, and we both know that you’re very quick with getting food,” Coomer teased the viperfish, gently grabbing his rough hands and squeezing them. Bubby narrowed his eyes, a red tint on his cheeks, before muttering a quiet “fine.” The mantis shrimp’s smile was almost as bright as itself, and they gave the viperfish a quick peck on the lips. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A small smile tugged on Bubby’s lips, before they nodded and turned back around to Darnold and Tommy. “You two are stuck with me now,” he confidently teased, before diving back underwater. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tommy’s chin rested on the wet floor of the base, as he worriedly stared at Gordon. His eyes kept bouncing from the man’s missing hand, the new golden tail, and his dead face. His staring contest got interrupted by Darnold gently tugging his shoulder, mouthing a soothing “come on”. That surprisingly worked for the squid, as he hesitantly turned around, watching Darnold dive underwater following Bubby. Tommy didn’t follow after the blue ringed octopus immediately, stopping to give one last worried look to Gordon, before disappearing underwater. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And that left the leviathan oarfish, the mantis shrimp, and Gordon. Benrey was the first to break the awkward silence that was left after the rest of the school went to go get some food for Gordon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..he’s beautiful..” Benrey softy mumbled to himself, gently tracing the black speckled pattern on Gordon’s yellow scales. “..pretty colors.. nice yellow..” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It fits him quite well, I suppose. He has a good heart, a heart of gold,” Coomer chuckled, waving to the tail’s golden color. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..yeah… he’s a.. a uhhh.. a great cool.. much good..” Benrey struggled to mumble out, as he continued to mindlessly trace his patterns.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wonder what he is… I don’t think I’ve seen anything like him before,” Coomer commented, curiously looking at Gordon. He looked similar to Benrey, if you didn’t count the red strands and smaller fins. The tail was short, only ending a foot after where Gordon’s legs once were, two fins starting from the back of his neck and stomach and continuing until the tip of the tail. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Benrey shrugged, before starting to move and change how he was sitting, despite the base’s protests. Benrey’s hands splashed against the slowly flooding floor as he shifted positions. “i dunno.. maybe whatever he is, is like you?” Benrey asked, wrapping his injured tail around Gordon protectively. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean, Benrey?” Coomer asked, a little confused by what Benrey said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..from the shallows.. bro.. you had uhh.. family right? they chilled in the shallows? weren’t always.. uh- down here,” Benrey tried to explain, before laying down next to Gordon, and carefully observing him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, I understand. But I am not entirely sure. You see, I lived all my life down here, but we did have stories carried down from the very old schools that thrived in the shallows! But, they are quite old. Older than all of us combined, in fact- it was quite a long time before the schools had split,” Coomer rambled happily, watching as Benrey nodded. Despite how apathetic and bored the oarfish looked, Coomer knew he was quite interested. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..what kind of stories?” Benrey asked, confirming Coomer’s assumptions of the oarfish being interested.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well… the one that I remember the most is probably the Still Ocean-“ Coomer started, before getting cut off by Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“the still ocean?” The leviathan asked, their head tilting to the side and their gaze abruptly moving from Gordon’s golden tail to Coomer for a moment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep! ‘The Still Ocean!’ If you lived in the shallows, it was fairly easy to see the surface, and because of that, many sirens were lucky enough to see the Second Ocean. You could only see it above the surface and whenever the Great Light was down-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“huh? great light?” Benrey asked, genuinely intrigued but also highly confused. Coomer nodded and went back to explaining.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep! There was a large light up above that looked very similar to a ball. It lit up everything, but eventually, it would grow tired and go to sleep. That’s when you could see the Still Ocean. It looked like an endless ocean that was above everything, no ripples or waves in the water. It was always calm, with more glowing plankton in it then you could count,” Coomer explained, gesturing with his hands and arms as he rambled on about the Still Ocean. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..sounds real pretty,” Benrey commented, closing his eyes and imagining what it must have looked like. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It does, doesn’t it? Of course- I’ve never seen it. I’ve only heard of it, from stories passed down,” Coomer explained, a slight tone of regret to his voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..I wonder if uhhh… if Feetman saw it.. maybe he could tell us..” Benrey said, going back to gently tracing Gordon’s pattern. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I sure hope so. Speaking of our dear friend, do you think he’ll be alright?” Coomer asked, dragging himself a few inches closer to the unconscious siren, a worried and unsure look to his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..hope so.. he was uh.. hurting.. a lot.. lots of pain.. not good.. i- didn’t want to hurt him… just wanted to help.. fuckin loser.. even- even when I hurt him.. or tried to.. he couldn’t just fuckin ditch us.. and make things easy.. he.. he had to go and uhh.. go and help me.. had to be cute and stupid..” Benrey mumbled, his fingers going still as he stopped mindlessly tracing the patterns. He looked towards Gordon, not wanting to see what kind of expression was on Coomer’s face. He looked at Gordon’s face, which was still twisted in pain and discomfort, his rough hair a tangled mess, his lips barely pulled back in a pained grimace, revealing the new sharp teeth. It was fascinating how his face could show so much even when he was unconscious. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“About that incident.. what exactly happened? You never told us why you were trying to kill Gordon,” Coomer asked, looking at Benrey hesitantly. He watched as the oarfish nervously tensed and bit his lip, eyes drifting from Gordon’s face to their webbed hands. Benrey anxiously started to tap his fingers against the floor of the base, the water splashing gently. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...i’m a leviathan.. gotta protect you all.. G uhhh.. he told me that- that he fucked up.. made a big mistake.. that he sent crucial info.. it wasn’t correct. he didn’t do anything wrong.. but i was big stupid.. didn’t know and thought he betrayed us..” Benrey did his best to explain, obviously tense and uncomfortable as he did. Coomer nodded as Benrey explained, before hesitantly putting a hand on the oarfish’s shoulder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benrey looked up, a little shocked, to meet Coomer’s comforting and soft smile. It wasn’t the bright and optimistic one he normally had, it was one solely meant for comfort. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How about we focus on waiting for Gordon to wake up, huh?” Coomer said, the usual cheery upbeat tone back in his voice. Benrey nodded, relaxing a little as Coomer gently pulled back his hand and patiently laid his hands back on top of the crossed pair of arms resting in the two-inch high water that covered the floor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was impossible to tell how much time had passed, since Gordon no longer had the watch that commanded him to tend to the base’s now broken machines, and the “Great Light” (or more commonly known as the Sun) couldn’t reach the depths that the school’s territory was in. All the two knew was that it felt like a long ass time before they heard a slight groan and hiss, and Gordon started to shift a little, moving his arms to prepare to push himself up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Gordon!” Coomer happily said, the bright red legs excitedly tapping the metal floor and splashing the water.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..huh- oh shit.” Benrey managed to spit out, backing up a little to give Gordon space as the siren pushed himself up. It was much more than just a little tempting to grab the siren and pull him into a hug, but Benrey did his best to fight the temptation as Gordon woke up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“..Ow…. Everything is sore..” Gordon hissed, a sleepy look in his now piercing yellow eyes. Benrey noticed how his arms were shaking a little, struggling to hold himself up. Benrey gently grabbing and holding Gordon's chest, trying not to hurt him to try and help Gordon balance a little more. Coomer was quick to gently join and grab Gordon under his arms to help. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> “...did it work?” Gordon slowly added, breathing out heavily and slurring his words a little. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Take a look, Gordon!” Coomer happily said, gesturing to the new siren’s reflection on the water in the flooded base. Coomer and Benrey adjusted him to where it would be easier to see his reflection, as Gordon squinted a little trying to see it better. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The eyes were new. They were a strong and shocking golden color, and his hair seemed a little different as well. It looked vaguely the same, but something was off. The texture? Gordon weakley brushed his hand through the hair. It felt a little slimy and like he had been swimming in chlorine for hours. Definitely the texture. Gordon opened his mouth, almost flinching from just how jagged and sharp his teeth were. “What the fuck…” Gordon muttered to himself in disbelief, his hand now hovering in front of his mouth- and what the </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck- </span>
  </em>
  <span>what the fuck was that? Gordon opened his mouth as wide as he possible could, and he could see fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>teeth </span>
  </em>
  <span>in the back of his throat. No wonder the back of his throat still felt fucking itchy and sore, Jesus that’s disgusting. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon didn’t have too much time to focus on the second fucking jaw hiding in the back of his mouth before he got distracted by the webbing inbetween his fingers. He moved his fingers back and forth, fascinated by it. It was like a thin sheet of fabric, connected by the sides of his fingers. It had a similar shade of gold like the corneas of his eyes, but much more paler and almost pastel. He also noticed how his sweatshirt was basically destroyed, the back of it being completely torn from a pretty large dorsal fin that ran down his back. Sighing, he gently tugged against Cooner and Benrey (who quickly let him go), and took off the shirt.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“fuckin finally, bro,” Benrey commented, watching as Gordon jumped a little and tensed, face beet red. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut up-“ Gordon hissed, tossing the sweatshirt off to the side and watching it float off in the water. Then he noticed his tail. The same golden color of his eyes, a dorsal fin that ripped through his shirt originally and followed down to the tip of his tail, and a matching fin on the bottom. Both were the pastel color that matched his webbing, and the main golden tail was speckled with a dark grey spotted pattern that looked like it belonged on a banana. He also felt kind of wet. He tried to wipe off a bit of the water, but paused. It wasn’t water it was fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>slime. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wait a fucking second-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Two jaws, one in the back of his fucking throat, a snake-like tail, jagged teeth, and a slime coat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Am I a fucking moray eel?”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. When it tolls, well, it tolls for thee</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Am I a fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>moray eel</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” Gordon asked, taking another glance at the 4-feet long tail, and then at his webbed hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We have no idea!” Coomer happily piped up, gently patting Gordon on the back, right next to the dorsal fin. Since </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything </span>
  </em>
  <span>was sore and a lot of places felt extremely sensitive, Gordon flinched and hissed in pain a little. There was no hesitation as Coomer pulled back his hand, the bright smile moving into more of a shy worried one. “Ah- sorry about that, Gordon! But, good news: the others should be back soon!” He added, watching as Gordon’s gaze didn’t look away from the webbing in between his fingers, a fascinated and extremely confused expression on his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where are they?” Gordon asked, putting his hand in the flooded water, and looking back towards his tail. It was so </span>
  <em>
    <span>surreal, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he felt like he was about to wake from a dream and be able to go back home, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew that wasn’t going to happen. He tried to shift the tail a little, before the soreness of the tail suddenly spiked up to a sharp sting. Gordon tensed, digging the new claws into the metal base from the pain but tried not to make any noise. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“went to go get food, bro. for you. you uhh… you gave us food, we give you food now,” Benrey “explained.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Huh… I am a little hungry, but…” Gordon paused, opening his mouth and tapping one of his teeth, and cringed from the singe of pain it sent. “I don’t think I’ll be able to eat.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“you’ll just have to try, Feetman,” Benrey teased, opening his mouth to say something else before getting cut off by Coomer’s cheerful tone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can chew it up and spit it into your mouth, Gordon! Would that help?” The mantis shrimp’s tone was… far too cheerful and happy for the single most disgusting sentence Gordon had heard in his entire life.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon slowly shook his head, a horrified look on his face. “...</span>
  <em>
    <span>no.” </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“cause that’s my job, broo!” Benrey added on, cackling a little. Gordon spun his head around to glare at the siren, hissing out another “no-“ in which the oarfish gave an impish and toothy smile. Gordon rolled his eyes, accepting his defeat, and started to gingerly shift himself to lean on Benrey’s lap. He couldn’t help but wince at the pain suddenly glaring up from well.. everywhere, but mostly his back, tail, and fins (it still felt surreal to have those in the first place). </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You two are fucking disgusting,” Gordon muttered, trying his best to get comfortable laying his head on the oarfish’s lap (cause God knows how much he needed something similar to human touch right now), despite the constant soreness of his body. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“says the fuckin uh.. the fucking moe-ray with the stinky wet slime. y- you- you’re a little slimy boy aren’t ‘cha? fuckin GROSS to me, Feetman,” Benrey teased, looking down at Gordon’s face, which was full of emotion and life thank the fucking great light or whatever Coomer called it. Benrey’s cheeks started to grow into a slight shade of red, the leviathan’s eyes widening, when he heard Gordon’s laugh fill up the room, a sound that he missed dearly and made him feel better than any mind-twisting siren’s song ever could. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Moe-ray?” Gordon managed to spit out in between laughter, his tail swaying a little from left to right and splashing the flooded water around like an excited guppy. Benrey's eyes quickly darted to the tail’s movement and the crimson glow to his cheeks did NOT stop. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...yeah, moe-ray. don’t change the subject slime boy and go all- ‘mnuh neh muh’ cause i called you by your fish thing,” Benrey continued to tease, only for Gordon to burst into more laughter, curling a little in on himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s MORAY- and please- please just fucking STOP- before my ribs explode- I can’t-“ Gordon wheezed out, attempting to say something else before Coomer cut him off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re a nasty little slimy boy, aren’t you Gordon?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Annd that sentence completely fucking broke the moray eel, as tears welled up in his eyes from a mix of the pain from the laughter and just the pure joy he got from this stupid conversation. He knew it wasn’t too long since the last idiotic conversation between the school- no </span>
  <em>
    <span>his </span>
  </em>
  <span>school now- he was with them- but it sure felt like it had been too long since the last one. And god, Gordon couldn’t wait for more if he was being honest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t until the 3-inch thick flooded water reached a grand total of 5 inches when a familiar blue-ringed octopus, viperfish, and squid surfaced from the… well no longer pool, more like just a massive gaping hole. Gordon still had his head laying semi-comfortably in Benrey’s lap with the oarfish happily playing with his hair, the pupils dilated so widely to the point if Gordon felt like if he shook Benrey’s head he’d see the fucking magic 8 ball ‘yes’ answer in his eyes. Coomer was next to the two, humming the same song Gordon was singing to Benrey earlier to calm him down, while happily tapping his secondary arms to the beat. It was an almost silent time, the only sounds being the gently sloshing of the water ,along with a very distant and faint pouring, and the occasional creaks from the metal base either protesting the pressure of the water (which it now couldn’t handle well thanks to a certain eel) or Benrey’s weight. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was peaceful. Kind of like that feeling of a creek in the woods with the birds chirping, and when the sun goes over the tree leaves just right y- oh holy shit they brought </span>
  <em>
    <span>food. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He forgot about that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Holy fuck he’s actually awake,” Bubby said, his face a little shocked despite how much the glasses prevented the siren from showing emotions other than slight agitation. Gordon watched as the three were holding… some rather unappetizing seafood. And by unappetizing he meant writhing around and squirming like a worm. These things were alive, but barely. Gordon tried not to cringe, as Bubby dropped a giant isopod down in the flooded water, putting his hand on its back so it couldn’t crawl away. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Freeman!” Tommy called out, a smile brighter than the sun on the squid’s face, the scales scattered on his cheeks and the striped pattern on his tentacles glowing a magnificent yellow as he called out to Gordon. He looked so relieved and joyful, and was bouncing up and down from where he was, obviously wanting to give Gordon a hug, but his arms were full of toothfish and much smaller squids, squirming around in his tight grip. Ew. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gordon!” Darnold shouted, his much shorter tentacles curling in, a bright toothy smile on his face, and the blue ringed patterns that every person should fear were pulsing with joy, similar to Tommy’s patterns. He had what looked like quite a lot of shrimp in his claws, but the octopus was more focused on Gordon who was still just chilling on Benrey’s lap. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Howdy,” was all Gordon could say, before he clenched his teeth in pain as he started to adjust himself to where he was sitting up and it would be easier to talk to them. Benrey noticed what he was doing, and carefully helped him up. Gordon gave a quiet “thanks” and winced as he sloshed his tail around in the water, trying to get it in a more comfortable position.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You-yo- your tail is lovely, Mr. Freeman! It’s- it’s like the go-gold of- of a uh- of a golden king crab!” Tommy hummed, gently putting down the squids and toothfish (but still keeping them in place in the water by basically grinding them into the floor harshly with his tentacles). Gordon paused for a moment, raising a brow. How the hell did Tommy know what that was- obviously Benrey and Coomer didn’t know what a moray eel was, and king crabs only went to what? 500 meters at most? What the fuck. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How do you know what that is?” Gordon asked, genuinely curious and also just hoping to hear Tommy ramble about something so he could have something to distract the aching soreness that plagued his body. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve seen them before, Mr. Freeman?” Tommy said, tilting his head a little as he started to sit down and get comfortable, tentacles swaying a little as they crushed the poor sea creatures. “And I’ve seen bastard morays too, Mr. Freeman.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“WH- </span>
  <em>
    <span>WHAT-</span>
  </em>
  <span>“ Gordon basically shouted, completely shocked as everybody around him bursted into laughter (even Benrey). </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“brooo, you didn’t tell me you were a fuckin- uhh, bastard moray, Feetman,” Benrey teased through his cackles, that honestly sounded like they would come from a cartoon villain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s fitting!” Bubbly said, gesturing with his free hand that wasn’t pinning the poor writhing isopod down. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“TECHNICALLY, they are called bastard morays, but they’re also called Goldentails!” Gordon shouted in a desperate attempt to defend himself, which he should’ve known that it would have failed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re- they’re- they’re called bastard morays, Mr. Freeman!” Tommy repeated, only for Gordon to join in on everybody’s laughter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How- how do you even know that?!” Gordon struggled to wheeze out, his sides and tail crying out in pain from how much they were moving because of the laughter. “They’re so fucking close to the surface, dude-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve- I’ve been to th-the surface before, Mr. Freeman. So has my dad,” Tommy calmly explained, tentacles still tightly curled around the squids and toothfish. And just like a tv getting muted, all the laughter just went silent and everyone looked towards the now anxious squid in shock. “Wh- what did I say..” Tommy asked, visibly nervous from the sudden staring as his tentacles curled in a little. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ve been to the </span>
  <em>
    <span>surface</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” Darnold asked, saying what everybody had been thinking. Tommy anxiously looked at him, nodded, and started to scratch the back of his head nervously as he tried to speak. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well- y- yeah… my da- dad wouldn’t let me above the surface though… but I was there as a kid and we’d go a little bit deeper every few weeks,” Tommy explained, finally letting Gordon catch a breath from the onslaught of laughter he had suffered through earlier. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Benrey and Coomer look at eachother with a knowing look.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Have you seen the Still Ocean?” Darnold asked, both Benrey’s and Coomer’s snapping towards him with surprise. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The what</span>
  <em>
    <span>?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon and Tommy both had asked at the exact same time, looking towards Darnold extremely confused. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How do you know what the fucking Still Ocean is?” Bubby asked, still keeping a hand on the isopod’s shell. Tommy and Gordon looked at eachother, hopelessly confused at this. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...I’m a shallow siren. Like Coomer,” Darnold said, like it would make any sense to the poor moray eel and colossal squid.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What are you two FUCKING talk about?” Gordon asked, extremely confused about whatever the fuck the the “still ocean” was and what a shallow siren was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Y-yeah! I’ve never heard of a… uh.. still ocean,” Tommy said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“FIRST- how about we eat, because I’m tired of having to keep this thing from running,” Bubby said. “One of us can explain while ‘Bastard’ here eats,” the Viperfish said with a mischievous smirk. Gordon didn’t even have to look next to him to tell Benrey was the one who cackled like a fucking witch in response to that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lovely idea, Bubby!” Coomer happily said, clapping his hands together once. Without saying anything, Bubby handed the mantis shrimp the isopod and gave him a look. It was a look that Gordon couldn’t describe, but apparently Coomer knew instantly, because the siren grinned a little. The mantis shrimp set down the isopod, the back of the poor creature on the flooded floor letting it squirm. Before Gordon could ask any questions, there was a loud c</span>
  <em>
    <span>RACK </span>
  </em>
  <span>and a splash from the water and the isopod was perfectly smashed in half. Gordon didn’t even fucking the club arms move. That was… terrifying and awesome at the same time. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here you go, Gordon! Hopefully since it’s smaller, it’ll be easier to chew!” Coomer happily said, setting both halves of the dead creature right next to Gordon, a smile that Gordon could only describe as a grandfather’s smile worn on the mantis shrimp’s face. It made the moray eel feel a little better about everything. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, but uh… I don't think I can exactly eat this… my teeth hurt even if I’m not doing anything,” Gordon said, a shy smile on his face as he tried to be polite. Bubby frowned a little, but it was less of a “fuck you, how dare you not eat my food” frown and more of a “fuck that sucks” frown.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“O-Oh! What about a squid! Or t-toothfish!” Tommy said, wrapping a tentacle around a singular squid and toothfish and bringing them over to Gordon, who slowly moved his hands in a “no” gesture. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No- no. I don’t think I can eat something that big- wait- aren’t you a squid?” Gordon asked, a little confused on how Tommy would be eating a squid since they were technically the same. Tommy’s eyes darted from left to right, and he tilted his head a little confused. “...yeah? Why, Mr. Freeman?” He asked, lowering the “food” a little. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re a squid- y’know what? Never mind. Thank you, but I really doubt I can chew something that big… and alive,” Gordon repeated, honestly feeling a little bad at rejecting the food. He wasn’t being picky but he knew he wouldn’t be able to crunch through an isopod without probably tearing up a little, and a squid or fish that big without freezing in place from pain from his teeth. Tommy thankfully brought the squid and fish back over to himself, and nodded. He still looked a little sad though. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here’s something you might be able to eat,” Darnold said, his voice soft and almost soothing. He held out his hand, and there were a few shrimps laying on it. Gordon paused for a moment, brows furrowed. Shrimp couldn’t be too bad, right? They were strong, and Gordon actually liked shrimp quite a bit. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think I can do that,” Gordon said, hesitantly taking one of the few shrimps in Darnold’s hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright time to educate you dumbasses on the fucking Still Ocean,” Bubby confidently said. Gordon stared at the shrimp, raising a brow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bubby, I’m the one who told you about it,” Coomer chuckled. Gordon didn’t know why he was so nervous about eating a fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>shrimp. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know! But I still know about it!” Bubby said, face a little red as Coomer chuckled. Oh yeah, Gordon was nervous because he knew this would hurt like hell. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Come onnn,” Tommy whined, visibly frustrated and growing a little impatient. Gordon opened his mouth a little, jaw still feeling a little weird. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“yeah, bro. you’re so fuckin sloww, it’s kind of lame,” Benrey commented, gently putting his arm over Gordon’s shoulder. Gordon didn’t react to it. The back of his throat itched again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut the fuck- ALRIGHT. I’m starting now!” Bubby’s explanation of the Still Ocean quickly turned to white noise as Gordon tried biting down halfway on the shrimp’s body. He didn’t know what felt weirder, the unbearable itch in his throat or the sharp teeth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then before Gordon could even react accordingly, he felt that itch </span>
  <em>
    <span>move </span>
  </em>
  <span>and the feeling of something clamp onto the shrimp in his mouth, and pull it down his throat. It happened so fast, and it shocked Gordon so much, that he started coughing and basically choking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“bro- feetman- you good? you cool, dude?” Benrey asked, gently shaking the man that was basically hunched over sounding like a cat whenever they had a hairball. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...is he alright?” Bubby asked, a genuinely worried tone to his voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before any of the sirens could say anything else or react, Gordon finally stopped hacking and coughing. He rubbed at his throat, relaxing and leaning against Benrey again. “What the fuck-“ he quietly said to himself, wincing a little at just how dry his voice sounded. It didn’t even hurt that badly, and he didn’t even cough out the fucking shrimp. It just went down his throat with no issues thanks to the jaws. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“yo, the fuck happened?” Benrey asked, and despite the monotone voice Gordon could tell he was concerned. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...don’t want to talk about it,” Gordon said in response, before shifting himself to where he was leaning against Benrey a little more, and gestured to Bubby. “I won’t cough this time, go back to… whatever you were talking about.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The Still Ocean! The ocean above the surface when the great light is asleep!” Bubby shouted, trying to come off as annoyed but at this point Gordon knew he wasn’t actually angry. Gordon paused, trying to think about what he said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...you mean space?” Gordon asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>𓆝 𓆜 ––––———–––––———–┊⁀➷</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>4 more inches of flood water, a decently long break, god knows how long of explaining space to four sirens (Tommy was already aware of some of it apparently) later and everybody was ready to leave the base. Everybody except a certain golden tailed or bastard moray eel. One by one, Gordon watched everyone either push themselves into the hole of the flooding base or just dive in. Even Benrey did it pretty quickly this time, however Gordon stayed put. The flooding water was past his waist now, but he didn’t care.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everytime he went there something awful happened. If he didn’t almost drown, something as equally as scarring and awful happened. Just thinking of it made him nauseous, just how open and infinite the deep ocean was. How easily he could get lost, how easily he could die, and everything still </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he couldn’t do this- he couldn’t- </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gordon? Are you alright?” Coomer asked, swimming a little closer to the man with a concerned look on his face. No bright cheery smile. None of the sirens had dived under the water yet, they were all waiting on him. Gordon’s curl anxiously curled around him tightly, despite how sore it was and how much moving it hurt. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think I can do this-“ Gordon said, his eyes darting around and trying to find something that wasn’t a dark void of the endless pit of water that he was supposed to dive into. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sure you can! You’ve done it before, Gordon,” Bubby’s attempt to try to be encouraging completely failed as that only made the moray feel worse. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“bro, come on. i’ll catch you,” Benrey said, holding out his arms expecting Gordon to jump in. He didn’t. He couldn’t. It was too much. His body hurt so fucking badly how was he supposed to swim when everything hurt and he was missing a hand?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I really don’t think I can do this…” Gordon quietly said. When he looked in the water he saw an endless spiraling void of water. Water that he’s almost drowned in, water that has tried to claim his life and has succeeded with many other endless times, what makes this any different? He could fucking feel the freezing cold water, the </span>
  <em>
    <span>weight </span>
  </em>
  <span>crushing him, trying to swim up but hopelessly going in another direction, being paralyzed, not being able to </span>
  <em>
    <span>think</span>
  </em>
  <span>, the burning pain in his right hand that was no longer there, the tightness of his chest, the-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gordon!” Gordon got snapped out of his spiraling thoughts when Darnold shouted his name. He flinched, sharply inhaling from surprise. His claws were digging into the metal floor so violently that they stung, and he was trembling. He could also feel a warm fresh stream of tears drip down his cheeks. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I…” Gordon struggled to speak, tail curling around himself much tighter. Things were going so well, he was doing so good, he could go in the water before why was this time different? Then he heard that familiar and enchanting voice again, and orbs in many, many different shades of blue. Gordon immediately recognized the song Benrey was singing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Come, come, come, come along now. Run away from the hum-drum,” Benrey sang, his voice a little confused and unsure. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ll go to a place that is safe from, greed, anger, and boredom.” Gordon relaxed a little, claws no longer digging into the metal and tail no longer strangling his body. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ll dance and sing ‘till sundown,” Benrey continued, the blue lights continuing to illuminate the dying base. Gordon felt Benrey gingerly grab his hand, and hold it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“And feast with abandon,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon started to sing as well, looking towards Benrey who was still singing. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>We’ll sleep when morning comes, and we’ll rise by the sound of the birdsongs.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon had stopped trembling. However, he was still quite tense, but he felt a lot better. He watched Benrey’s pupils dilate widley, and looked back to magnificent blue orbs. It was every shade of blue he could ever imagine. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Many shades of blue… many shades of blue means that I’m here for you,” Tommy said, a soft look on his face. The squid looked towards Gordon, who was wiping his eyes of the tears. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Lovely!,” Coomer said, lightly clapping both pairs of arms together. The mantis shrimp has to admit that the two did sound very nice together. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was okay, but songs still don’t have words,” Bubby grumbled, of course still faking the anger. Even though Bubby was still being bitchy, it was a familiar bitchy that Gordon had enjoyed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are- are you ready now, Mr. Freeman?” Tommy asked, swimming a little closer to Gordon. Gordon paused for a moment, glancing at the water. Just one look made him feel cold and paralyzed again. He hated it so much. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Many shades of blue means that I’m here for you.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Pink to Blue means I love you.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon took a deep breath, and without saying anything he nodded. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“aight c’mere feetman, gonna carry you in to the fuckin water broooo,” Benrey said, starting to gently and slowly help Gordon into his arms. Gordon winced a little, still pretty sore, but let Benrey wrap an arm around his back and another around his waist. Gordon was still extremely nervous, but his tail was mostly submerged in the water due to how Benrey was holding him. Aside from the slight and temporary sting of pain from the impact of the water, it didn’t hurt. No heavy or crushing water. It wasn’t even that cold.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“aight we’re going doownnn, whoooo,” Benrey “cheered” even if his voice was still completely monotone. Despite apparently being able to breathe underwater, that didn’t stop Gordon from taking a deep breath right before Benrey held onto him tight and took him under. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon instinctively closed his eyes before he went under, and could feel the oddly comforting yet unnerving feeling of being underwater. He did have to admit, his hair floating up a bit did feel nice (though he’d probably have to find a way to tie it back again so it doesn’t get in his face, since he lost his hair tie). Once he was fully under, he did what he was honestly dreading to do, and opened his eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t just darkness. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He could </span>
  <em>
    <span>see </span>
  </em>
  <span>Coomer, Bubby, Tommy, and Darnold anxiously waiting underwater. Before he couldn’t see 3 feet in front of him, and they were all staying much farther than just three feet to give him space. He blinked, tail curiously flicking around, and looked around as best he could while being held by Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His neck itched a little, not as badly as the back of his throat, but it wasn’t too noticeable. It felt like having low render distance in a video game. After a certain point, it faded to black. Looking down, he could see some ground. That was good. He didn’t want to just look down and see a black void. Just the idea of that sent shivers down his spine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I got a fucking genius idea!” Bubby said, slapping his hands together in excitement as the light lure on his back seemed to glow slightly brighter. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wh-what do you have in mind?” Tommy asked, tentacles curling in as the squid grew curious. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just follow me!” Bubby excitedly said, before starting to swim off. Gordon looked up and Benrey, who looked down at him. Gordon watched as Benrey’s pupils dilated and grew a little larger, and Benrey watched as Gordon’s pupils went from thin and sharp to wide and soft. Sweet. Benrey looked at the others who seemed equally as intrigued and confused about Bubby’s “genius idea”. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...okay?” Gordon said, confused, and apparently that was what everyone was waiting for since they started to follow the viperfish after. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>About halfway through the short swim there, Gordon ended up getting off of Benrey (and by off he just meant he was tired of getting carried around and was heavily leaning on Benrey who was helping him swim, since it was beyond difficult with a sore tail that did NOT want to swim and he also had no idea how to use it, plus the added bonus of only one hand). It didn’t take too much time to get there at all, Gordon didn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t a large burrow in the sand and gravel and was decorated with rocks and… human items. The first thing he noticed was the Sunkist cans and the random pieces of trash scattered around the outside and inside of the burrow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh lovely idea, Bubby!” Coomer praised the viperfish who really didn’t need his ego any larger than it already was. Coomer turned to Gordon, who was starting to piece things together.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is my burrow, Gordon! I made it myself!” The mantis shrimp happily said. He opened his mouth to say something, before getting cut off by Bubby. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I thought it would be good to just stay here instead of doing anything too fucking drastic,” Bubby beamed, obviously proud of himself for coming up the idea. Gordon rolled his eyes, failing at biting back a small smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aight you bastard, put me in the burrow, please,” Gordon joked, making his voice a little over dramatic and poking Benrey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“fiiinne, but first-“ Benrey smirked, letting go of Gordon before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wh- what-“ Gordon froze up, shocked. Even his tail stopped moving completely. “Did you just kiss me?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Huh?” Benrey asked, a shit-eating grin on the oarfish’s face. “what do you mean, bro, I didn’t do anything.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon paused, still a little surprised, as he felt his face grow warm. It… it was nice. He stared at Benrey, mouth hung open from the surprise and confusion. All of this was still.. It was still so surreal for Gordon. And not just the fucking turning into a literal mermaid to escape the batshit crazy facility that was trying to kill you and going to live in the ocean. After years of only having one person who seemed to care about him, then only being able to see them once a month, of thinking that he had nobody and it would stay like that forever. And then 5 people suddenly cared enough about him for the first time in decades and were willing to let him in. Even if it was after he lost his fucking hand, after experiences that he was certain would haunt him for the rest of his life, and after god knows how many sudden changes in his lifestyle, he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>happy. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...you good, man?” Benrey asked, starting to regret the silly kiss since Gordon was spacing out for a while, and the moray’s face was beet red.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Pink to blue means I love you. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...yeah… just- come here for a second,” Gordon said in one quick breath, voice a slightly higher pitch. Benrey’s eyes went a little slim, as he tensed and hesitantly swam closer to the moray. He fucked up didn’t he? He made a mistake, and Gordon was uncomfortable. He wouldn’t be surprised if he Gordon hated him now-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The oarfish’s racing thoughts were cut off by the feeling of a gentle hand on the side of his cheek and warm lips against his own. Benrey’s eyes widened at first, just as shocked as Gordon was when the oarfish gave the quick smooch on the cheek, before he leaned into Gordon’s hand like how a cat presses its face against a human's hand, and accepted the kiss. It felt like it was just the two of them. It was nice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Which was why he couldn’t help but let out a small whine when Gordon gently pulled away. The warmth from Gordon’s felt like it moved from the moray’s face to Benrey’s, as his cheeks burned with a harsh blush. Gordon seemed to be mimicking that blush as well. Now they were left staring at each other in silence, wide eyes and wide pupils. It wasn’t awkward though, it was a nice silence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, young love!” Coomer said, grabbing the attention of the two who turned towards him just in time to see him wipe a “tear” from his eyes. He had that same optimistic yet goofy smile on his face. He turned to Bubby, and nudged him with his elbow, and the viperfish in return responded with rolling his eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...burrow time?” Benrey asked, face settling back into the poker face with a barely noticeable slight tint of red to his cheeks. Gordon nodded, anxiously scratching the back of his head with his claws, which by the way felt fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>amazing. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gordon chuckled as Benrey scooped him up, not bridal position, but by his stomach and carrying him like a fucking plank of wood or piece of luggage. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gordon wasn’t surprised when Benrey dropped him the same way a person would just let go of a wooden board, but thankfully gravity barely exists in water and he kind of just floated to the bottom of the burrow. “...this is nice,” Gordon said, shocked at just how comfortable the sand was. “Like holy </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span>, this is comfortable,” Gordon mumbled as he shifted his pose to where he was laying down in the burrow, resting his head on the “wall” of the structure. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Broo, fuckin- scooch your bastard eel ass over- let me see,” Benrey complained, and Gordon was so thankful the burrow was pretty large since Benrey had a basically infinite tail and wasn’t the smallest sea creature. The oarfish pushed Gordon a little to the side, and despite the fact he lied right next to him and was either shoving his head underneath Gordon’s chin to aggravate him or just get comfortable, but Gordon had a feeling it was a little bit of both. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“oh what the fuck- this is sand is soft, bro..” Benrey murmured, earning a snicker and eye roll from the eel. Gordon adjusted his position to where he could more comfortably wrap his arms around the oarfish and cuddle with them. “You stole my spot, dude,” Gordon teased, giving the top of their helmet a quick kiss. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think you mean my fucking spot!” Bubby laughed, swimming into the burrow, and sitting down at the very end of the burrow, which was only like a foot away from Gordon. He curled his tail in a circular position and looked towards Coomer, who clapped his hands together once again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And now my spot is open!” The mantis shrimp beamed, quickly swimming over and laying down next to Bubby, his head in the viperfish’s lap and the large tail now curled protectively around the crustacean. Bubby didn’t hesitate to grab one of Coomer’s hands, and used his free one to play with his gray hair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Burrow sleepover!!” Tommy happily hummed, his hands excitedly flapping up and down and his patterns and eyes glowing with joy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good luck finding a spot,” Bubby joked, but Tommy had no issue curling up happily in a tight space between Benrey’s tail and Coomer, his long tentacles curling up in a surprisingly tight circle, and using Benrey’s tail as a pillow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Make some room,” Darnold said, finding a tight spot that you would assume would be absolutely impossible for the octopus to fit into, but they did. It was in between Benrey’s tail and the wall, but they quickly got comfortable. Then there was a nice comfortable silence as everyone relaxed in Coomer’s burrow. They all barely fit and it was the equivalent to the can of fucking sardines, but it was nice. Gordon listened to the near silence. The only sounds he could hear were the bubbles of his school, maybe the rare whispers, giggles, or yawn, until eventually it was the white noise of bubbles and soft snoring. Gordon was actually starting to get tired himself, even if he hadn’t been awake for long at all. The moray eel yawned, as he thought about things.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He thought about Joshua, and God, Gordon wished he never got in this mess in the first place if it meant he could still be there for that kid.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He thought about G-Man, and what would happen if he ran into him again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But he also thought about his school. He had a very strong feeling they would protect and help him if anything happened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t a feeling, he was certain.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was certain they would help him through whatever the fuck waited for Gordon when he woke up. Closing his eyes, and nuzzling the top of Benrey’s head, Gordon smiled as he waited to drift into unconsciousness. He didn’t know what would happen next, but he had a family- a </span>
  <em>
    <span>school</span>
  </em>
  <span>, who he would die protecting and he was certain they would do the same.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was nice feeling loved again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Surreal, but nice.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Annd that's the end! Thank y'all so much for staying until the end, lol. Also this is the end for this fic, but not the actual mermaid AU. I'll be most likely posting one-shots in the future, and an added short bonus chapter to this fic! <br/>I can't thank y'all enough for the support and comments... this was the first fanfic I finished and I hope it's not the last. Also yes I changed all the chapter names to lyrics from Wriggle by Cosmo Sheldrake. </p><p>Also quick shout-outs:<br/>Here's the Reverse AU of this fic, with Gordon and Forzen as the sirens; Spring and a Storm by demizorua:<br/>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24848821</p><p>And just another mermaid au! I really loved this fic lol; Fish Boyfriend? In MY Lagoon? by PhantomLore:<br/>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24976795</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Don’t Forget</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>From: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Subject: Gordon Freeman</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>     Hey. This is Gordon Freeman, if you couldn’t tell by the subject. Just wanted to make sure. I’m just gonna get the basic shit out of the way, real quick. I don’t have a lot of time right now, so most important crap first. Okay, first: I know we’ve had our ups and downs, mostly downs, but I care about you. I care about you and Joshua and I don’t want you to think otherwise. Second, I’m not leaving. I’m not dying. It’s too complicated and just weird to explain what’s happening. Hell, even I barely understand. Third: This is probably the last time you’ll hear from me. I wish it wasn’t, and I’m so so sorry that all you get is a fucking email. I wanted to leave a call or at least visit you but I can’t. I can’t and I’m sorry. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>     Okay, onto the next thing: Here’s a small message to you. I care about you still. I know we're only friends, well less than friends really, but I regret not talking to you a little more after everything. I honestly appreciate the smaller things you’ve done. I know raising Joshua on your own is going to be stressful, and again- I’m so sorry that you’ll have to do it on your own- hell- I don’t even know how he’s going to react to me never going to be able to come back. But I know you can do it. I know you can do this without me, since you’ve basically been doing it for the past few years. Again, I care about you a lot and I’m sorry. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>     The rest of this is for Joshua. I don’t care if you read, actually- you probably will have to since he might have trouble understanding. But please make sure he hears this and understands. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>     Okay. Hey Joshie, I know this is going to be very confusing for you. It’s confusing for me too a little, but I just want to let you know that I’m not dead. I promise you. And I didn’t decide to just leave you. And just in case you suddenly think this is because of you, it isn’t. You are a wonderful kid, Joshua. You are the light of my life and you will continue to be. There are so many memories I look back on and I smile on with you. I’m sorry that I can’t watch you or make any more memories with you. I’m sorry that I can’t watch you grow up and do amazing things, discover new hobbies, or see you again. I really want to be there for you, I really really do, and just know if I could do anything about this situation I would go back if it meant being able to see you at least one more time, or even better see you regularly again. I’m getting ahead of myself- </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>     I don’t have a lot of time now, so I’ll keep this brief. Remember that picture of us at the beach? I’m not sure if you remember that day too much, but it was one of the best days of my life. I remember you being terrified of the ocean, and the moving water. A lot of people were going in the waves, but you were afraid. You thought it was the scariest thing, and I can’t blame you. It can be pretty scary, just like many things. Change can be scary too. But you have no idea how many times I laugh at you sneaking into the ice chest and using the bottled water to make the sand castles since you couldn’t go bear the ocean. I hope you remember me helping you into the water. It was simple, one slow step at a time. You had a bucket that was the size of your head in your hands and I was trying to help you fill it up in the water. I remember you standing in the ocean, standing in the sand with the bucket. You were cheering and hopping up and down, just proud of yourself for getting over that fear. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>     I think about that day a lot. Getting over a fear like that isn’t easy. I’m almost out of time, now. I’ll actually keep it brief. I hope you remember that day, Joshie. I hope you remember that I love you, and that if I could I would do anything to be with you right now. I didn’t bring up that silly beach story because it was a random memory. It means a lot. Seeing you get over a fear in minutes that would normally take me months to get over. I’m still scared of the ocean a little, you don’t know what’s down there. It could be scary, or it could be as amazing as you. I think it’s more amazing. Remember that I love you, okay, Joshie? Also, remember that the ocean isn’t so scary. There are… many surprises the ocean gave me, and I’m sure it’ll give you a few too. I love you.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I love you both, so, so much. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m sorry I can’t do more.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Well, this is where I get off. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Goodbye. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Me, making this cheesy af? Totally not. But here’s the bonus chapter, as promised.</p>
        </blockquote><div class="children module" id="children">
  <b class="heading">Works inspired by this one:</b>
  <ul>
    <li>
        <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24848821">Spring and a Storm</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/demizorua/pseuds/demizorua">demizorua</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</div></div></div>
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